Continental Europe Captain Francesco Molinari was delighted with his side's start to the Hero Cup after they won Friday's four-ball session 3-2 to open up an early lead over Great Britain & Ireland - but he stressed there is still a long way to go.
There was little to separate the two sides on a highly-competitive first day in Abu Dhabi, with four of the five matches going all the way to the 18th.
Thomas Pieters and Alex Noren set the tone for Continental Europe as they held off Tommy Fleetwood and Shane Lowry's impressive fightback to win the top match 1UP.
Thomas Detry and Antoine Rozner then beat Tyrrell Hatton and Jordan Smith 2UP in the next match to put Molinari's side 2-0 up.
Séamus Power and Robert MacIntyre got GB&I's first point on the board with a dominant 4&3 win over Sepp Straka and Adrian Meronk in the bottom match before a roller-coaster contest between Victor Perez and Guido Migliozzi and Matt Wallace and Callum Shinkwin finished with each team walking away with half a point.
The last remaining match could have gone either way, as Nicolai Højgaard and Captain Molinari went to the 18th tee level with Ewen Ferguson and Richard Mansell.
It eventually ended in another tie as Mansell holed a pressure putt at the last to ensure Continental Europe's overnight lead was restricted to one point.
Molinari said: "I'm really, really happy and proud of how we started today. I think obviously a lot of tight matches.
"My guys did amazing. Obviously it's a nice start, a long way to go but it's always nice winning a day, winning a session.
"I've got a team that is very easy to manage, lots of nice guys that get along well, and we are having a great time so far."
GB&I Captain Fleetwood was pleased with the performances of his players.
He said: "I think it was a good team performance on the first day. I know we would love to have finished the day and been the right side of the scoreboard and been up.
"Unbelievable really that four matches go down the last. Just shows how close the teams are in terms of levels.
"I think in the end, to get out of that session 3-2, we'll definitely go back to our team rooms feeling better, and the guys, I just said to the guys, that's why those guys are at the back, trust them to get something out of it at the last and be very tough coming down that last hole.
"Overall I'm happy. That's the first competitive round this year and I think it went really well. I thought all of us put in good performances."
