South Africa captain Janine Van Wyk’s debut for Glasgow City ended in a thumping defeat against Wolfsburg in the quarter-final of the Women’s Champions League.
The 33-year-old had only joined the Scottish team as a free agent in July from Danish outfit Fortuna Hjorring, but started in defence wearing the number 5 shirt against the German Champion, as they held out till the 15th minute – when scoring rout began.
The match played in San Sebastien, Spain, saw a consolation goal for the Scottish Champions when Lauren Wade netted in the 64th minute (with the score at 5-1).
But despite the heavy defeat and its scoreline, Van Wyk, who led South Africa at last year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup in France described the experience as “fantastic”.
“For me personally the experience was fantastic,” she told Uefa.com.
“We knew we were going to face European giants in Wolfsburg. Not an easy team to beat. You can prepare as much as you can but they are always going to bring something new to the game.
“It was overall a fantastic experience for us and we can learn from it. We can only grow.”
Wolfsburg will go on to face Nigeria’s Asisat Oshoala and her Barcelona team in Tuesday’s semi-final, after the Catalans edged-out fellow Spanish rivals Atletico Madrid 1-0 in the other quarter-final game also played on Friday in Spain.
Oshoala started in the attack for Barcelona but was replaced in the 82nd minute, just right after French midfielder Kheira Hamraoui had scored the winner at the San Mames Stadium in Bilbao.
The other quarter-final fixtures will see Oshoala’s former team – Arsenal, take on French side PSG, while another German team in Bayern Munich up against the four-time winners and defending champions Olympique Lyon.