Not everything has gone according to plan for Aalborg Håndbold in the first part of the season, but on Thursday, there was little to fault in their performance against Slovenian side RK Celje in the Champions League.
The North Jutland team held a comfortable lead for most of the match, capping off a highly professional away performance with a 36–26 victory.
As has often been the case, goalkeeper Niklas Landin played a crucial role with numerous acrobatic saves, while the attack—spearheaded by winger Tobias Nielsen—worked like a well-oiled machine.
Aalborg is consequently in a solid position after their first two Champions League matches, having opened the campaign with a draw at home against PSG.
Starting this season, a new format features an initial group stage with fewer matches. Each group consists of four teams, with the top two advancing to the intermediate round, where spots for the knockout stage are decided.
The bottom two teams drop down to the second-tier European competition, the European League.
After the first two matches, Aalborg sits at the top of the table with three points.
Aalborg found it easy to create scoring opportunities during Thursday's match, aided by the fact that Celje committed numerous technical errors.
The home team’s defensive transition was often sluggish, allowing the lightning-fast Tobias Nielsen to score a string of easy goals that helped build the lead.
Landin’s nine saves also played a major part in Aalborg heading into the break with a 19–16 lead.
This trend continued into the second half as the lead steadily widened, and when Juri Knorr strolled through the defense to make it 25–18, the match looked all but decided.
Aalborg remained in complete control and never allowed Celje a sniff of a result. Tobias Nielsen finished as the leading goal scorer with 13 goals.