Bietigheim win by 9; Metz and Esbjerg also victorious

• Karolina Kudlacz-Gloc's six goals not only backed Bietigheim's fifth win of the season, but also helped her to overtake the top scorer's list - her tally stands at 37
• with five straight victories from as many games, Bietigheim have their best start ever to the EHF Champions League Women since their first appearance in the 2017/18 season
• Esbjerg took over the second spot in Group B after a 27:23 win against FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria, also prolonging the Hungarian wait for the first win
• taking over from Martin Albertsen, Allan Heine had his debut as FTC's head coach in the EHF Champions League Women
• Rapid still do not know how to beat Metz - the 22:33 defeat is their third against the French powerhouse and their biggest defeat in the competition
• Kristina Jörgensen was Metz's top scorer with 11 goals and five assists; she also added three steals on defence

GROUP A

SG BBM Bietigheim (GER) vs IK Sävehof (SWE) 30:21 (16:7)

Bietigheim extended their perfect streak in front of their fans in Ludwigsburg and left Sävehof at the bottom of group A. The German side had a blistering start, leading 4:0, but it would have been an even wider gap if not for Johanna Bundsen between Sävehof's posts. At halftime she was at 50 per cent save efficiency with nine saves. Nevertheless, the home team still managed to score 16 and left the Swedish side on their third-lowest number of goals, seven, scored in one half.  Bietigheim survived a short scare in the opening minutes of the second half as Sävehof made a 4-0 goal run and narrowed the lead to 13:17 with goals from Thea Kyllberg and Olivia Mellegård.  However, by the 50th minute the home team had restored a double-digit lead. Bietigheim cruised to a nine-goal win with nine out of 12 field players scoring at least once.

GROUP B

Team Esbjerg (DEN) vs FTC-Rail Cargo Hungaria (HUN) 27:23 (14:11)

Esbjerg's second-half performance sealed their win against FTC. In the first half goalkeepers, Anna Kristensen and Blanka Böde-Bíró, played well and that resulted in a well-balanced first half with the two sides levelled for the first 25 minutes. Andrea Lekic led FTC, netting eight times altogether, but last-minute saves by Kristensen pushed Esbjerg to a three-goal lead at the break. FTC looked better than in their previous matches, but it was not enough. Despite all their efforts, Esbjerg's 4-0 goal run midway through the second half gave them a 22:17 lead which was decisive for the end result. There is also not much that a team can do when Anna Kristensen builds a wall and as she closed the day with 18 saves at 44 per cent save efficiency, to propel her side to the 27:23 final score.

Metz Handball (FRA) vs CS Rapid Bucuresti (ROU) 33:22 (16:10)

Metz imposed their pace right from the start and it left no hope for Rapid Bucuresti. Their centre back, Kristina Jörgensen was a nightmare for Rapid's offence and defence - intercepting and scoring with ease, she produced half of the French goals in the first half. Rapid Bucuresti simply could not penetrate their opponent's strong defence and their troubles continued to mount throughout the game.  In the first 15 minutes of the second half, the Romanian side scored only three goals, courtesy of Marta López Herrero and Andjela Janjusevic. Even though Rapid started to play better in the last ten minutes of the game they still had to concede their biggest defeat ever in EHF Champions League history, as today's loss eclipsed a 31:40 defeat against Vipers Kristiansand in the 2022/23 quarter-finals.