Borussia Dortmund women hosted Esbjerg in the opening fixture of the EHF Champions League on Friday evening. The Danish side claimed a 33-24 victory at home, taking all three points from the group stage curtain-raiser.
Both teams entered the match with clean records in the standings — four games, nothing to show yet. And here's the thing, the recent results tell a different story. Dortmund had beaten Nekarsulm 35-33 and Leipzig 36-28 in their last two outings, while Esbjerg beat Copenhagen 37-25 and Odense 33-25 in similar fashion.
There were no goals, no red cards, no substitutions to note — this was a handball match, not a football one. The scoreline suggests Esbjerg found their rhythm first, but without minute-by-minute data it would be careless to speculate on how the match unfolded.
To be fair, the visitors' form heading into this fixture looked slightly sharper. They had won five of their last five matches, including two against Odense in different competitions. Dortmund had also won four of their last five, though they dropped points against Blomberg-Lippe and Zolingen.
The result leaves both sides level on points after one game. The gap in the table remains zero, as it should at this stage. What matters now is whether Esbjerg can close the game out against stronger opposition, or whether Dortmund's attacking output — they scored 24 without chasing the game — will tell.