Odense take Danish derby; CSM and Podravka earn sweet wins
Round 2 of the EHF Champions League Women 2025/26 ended with four matches on Sunday. In the Danish derby in Group B, Odense Håndbold proved too strong for Ikast Håndbold, winning 35:28.
I think we're coming up with really good energy level. And the fact that we manage to keep it up for 60 minutes, I think that shows a lot after a tough week. We got them every time they were within nine meters, and then it becomes difficult to get good opportunities. Then it becomes great to stand behind there.
We got two times two minutes in the first five minutes, so the team was a little bit shocked. It was a bit tough to play in the beginning because of this. And after this we had big problems the whole match to score. Those things in attack and the shots in the end were really bad from many players. I am not satisfied. Of course we should have done much better today.
I don’t know how a turnaround would have changed the game, since we can’t know in which direction it would have gone. It probably would have created some doubt for our opponents. Once again, we applied pressure too late, just like in the first half. If we had played in a higher gear for longer, it could have been different. Our attack was below expectations, although we did execute some actions well.
Since the start of the Champions League, we have been training excellently. Krim is a familiar opponent – in the past two years we have faced them 15 times and never managed to beat them. Today was the right opportunity. We played a great game: our shooting efficiency was excellent, the defence outstanding, and everything we planned in attack we executed. Since I’ve been at the club, I believe this was our best defensive performance. I want to thank the girls for their exceptional play.
I can describe our defence in the first half with one word - "wow". I am a very proud and satisfied coach after today's game. Today I think we saw the confidence that the team has and needs to have if we want to go all the way.
We have to admit that Odense were better than us today. They play with a bigger physique and outmatched us in some of the games, so we didn't get the close match that we wanted. We had good faith that we could do some things against them, but we can't quite match the physicality that they bring, that's the deciding factor.
I believe that motivation was the key today and when you play someone like FTC you know you have to give everything. We have a long history of good matches and we still have some things to adjust. The fans played a great role today, it was a great atmosphere for a handball game and we want to thank every one of them!
I believe we should be disappointed with the result as we played a good match and created a lot of opportunities and I believe we played a good game overall. We gave them too much space in the end of the game and we lost the advantage. We knew it would be a very hard game to play.
