There was no fairy-tale ending this time. After two victories and a draw in the EHF Champions League, the Borussia Dortmund women's handball team suffered their second defeat in Europe's premier competition on Saturday afternoon. 

The game against HC Rostov-Don, who lead the way in the Champions League Group A, was simply a step too far for the severely weakened German champions. The Russians ran out 37-27 (17-11) winners, underlining their credentials as favourites. "We are not entirely satisfied – neither with the performance nor with the result, but we have to recognise that there was nothing we could have done in Rostov. What was important was that we fought until the last minute, which is something that really sets the team apart," said BVB coach André Fuhr. 

When the BVB squad arrived at Dortmund airport to fly to Rostov at five o'clock on Saturday morning, coach André Fuhr had to deal with the first blow: Fatos Kucükyildiz, who had just recovered from a torn ligament, was missing due to stomach problems, making the already tense situation in terms of personnel even more difficult. 

Coach André Fuhr's team kept the scoreline respectable given their injury worries. "In the end, you have to acknowledge that the other team were better. We drew a lot of praise from their coach. I have noticed that we have also earned a lot of respect in the Champions League. We just have to say that we didn't have enough players – we only had four back-court players for three positions with Fatos Kucükyildiz missing."

The strain in recent weeks and this week in particular was high in light of the number of players out injured. On Wednesday evening, BVB still managed to win their Bundesliga game in Bensheim. After a short break, they travelled to the south of Russia on Saturday morning. A 2500-kilometre trip to Rostov-on-Don, then came back the very same evening. In between, there was a short warm-up session, lunch and a walk. 

The outcome on the court became clear relatively early in the afternoon. When Laura van der Heijden scored to make it 4-7 in the eleventh minute, BVB saw a glimmer of hope: hope of a draw, maybe a point – a sensational result. But Rostov showed why they are one of the top teams on the European stage. "The Russians are in a different league to us, they are looking to make the final four," said Fuhr ahead of the game against the team who lie top of the table in Group A. "They are a top team with different ambitions in the Champions League."

For seven minutes after Laura van der Heijden's goal, Dortmund failed to score and the Rostov-Don goal seemed like it had been boarded shut. Zschocke, Freriks (twice) and Sando' were all denied by strong blocks from the imposing Iron Curtain, before Norwegian Frida Rønning finally scored the fifth goal for BVB. At that stage, 18 minutes had been played and it was 11-5 to the hosts. "After eight minutes, we had four misplaced passes, we let them get out of sight early in the first half by making a lot of small errors, we did not get hold of them properly in defence and we lacked penetration up front over long periods. From the outside positions in particular, our numbers weren't good," said André Fuhr about the 17-11 scoreline at the break.  

While Rostov-Don were able to rely on their left-winger Polina Kuznetsova (5 goals) and centre back Grace Zaadi Deuna (four goals) going forward, they were able to build from the back with Eduarda Amorim and Anna Sen, who stands at 1.86 metres tall, and had a shot conversion rate of over 70 percent, while BVB managed 47 percent up to the break. 

In the second half, the heavy workload over the past few weeks began to take its toll and the lengthy injury list ultimately told. Rostov-Don continuously extended their lead. In the 40th minute, Managarova increased made it 23-13. Ten minutes later, it was 30-20 thanks to a fifth goal from Mia Zschocke, who battled tirelessly throughout. When Alina Grijseels (who scored all of her five goals after the break) scored in the final minute first from the penalty spot and then from open play 15 seconds later to make it 27-36, BVB at least managed to reduce the arrears to single digits, before Anna Sen made it 37-27 at the final whistle. 

BVB: Kohorst, ten Holte; Zschocke (6), Van der Heijden (4), Freriks (1), Berger (2), Grijseels (5/1), Sando (3), Moreno (2), Abdulla, Gutierrez Bermejo, Rønning (4)