Norwegian star Henny Reisted once again starred as the key player for the Danes in Croatia. The defender, who has been voted the best player in the world for the past three years, scored 11 goals and also had several assists.
Podravka was the team that had conceded the most goals in Group B in the group stage, and it also became evident why, as the Danes immediately took control of proceedings.
When Reistad did not score herself, she showed great composure to provide assists for her teammates. It was not noticeable at any time that Reistad was missing her Norwegian colleague, Nora Mork, in the back line, as Mork was missing due to illness.
The conditions were not made any more difficult by the fact that the Croatians made several technical errors which were promptly punished by Esbjerg's counter-attack.
Ten minutes into the second half, Esbjerg's lead reached nine goals, but then things slowed down a bit.
The visitors made several mistakes as Podravka decided to man-mark Reistad, and suddenly Esbjerg was only ahead by four.
Podravka had several opportunities to get even closer, but goalkeeper Anna Kristensen made sure that the visitors preserved the gap with a couple of good saves in goal.
In the last part of the match, Esbjerg regained their attacking composure and underlined their dominance by claiming an 11-goal win.
