While Team Esbjerg beat Rostov-Don on Saturday and Herning-Ikast Handbold defeated Handball Club Lada in the EHF European League Women earlier on Sunday afternoon, the third Danish-Russian duel of the weekend did not find a winner, as the match between Odense Håndbold and CSKA ended in a 27:27 draw.
GROUP B
Odense Håndbold (DEN) vs CSKA (RUS) 27:27 (12:12)
- after Odense took an early 2:0 lead, no team could pull clear by more than one goal in the first half
- 2021 world champion Maren Aardahl was in great form early in the second half, as her string of goals put the Danish team into a 20:17 lead
- CSKA hit back, and then went in front 27:25 before Odense drew level in the closing minutes
- Polina Gorshkova had a chance to secure two points for CSKA, but her last-minute shot was superbly saved by Althea Reinhardt
- Aardahl was Odense's top scorer with six goals, while Ana Gros netted just as many for CSKA
- CSKA and Odense remain fourth and fifth in the table respectively, with 10 and nine points
Dmitrieva makes Champions League comeback
After winning silver with Russia at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, CSKA's playmaker Darya Dmitrieva decided to take a break in her career. The 26-year-old missed the entire first half of the season, including the World Championship.
However, now the Russian is back, and in Odense, she played her first DELO EHF Champions League this season. While Dmitrieva scored three goals, she will need some time to get into her best shape – yet her presence on the court already had an effect on her team.
Odense played really good today and they fought until the end. It was a tough match for us. I am satisfied because we didn’t lose this game. Before this game, we had a lot of problems. But even in this situation, our players fought and played well.
