Xabi Alonso saluted "big influence" Victor Boniface, insisting the Bayer Leverkusen forward is improving every week ahead of their clash with Wolfsburg.

Boniface opened his account for the season with two goals and an assist in last weekend's 4-1 victory over Hoffenheim.

The 23-year-old netted 14 times last term as Leverkusen roared to the first Bundesliga title in their history, while remaining unbeaten in all 34 matches.

And Alonso feels the striker's continued growth is evident.

"We see a development with Boni from week to week," he told reporters at his pre-match press conference. "He's very important for us and has a big influence on our play.

"His influence off the pitch is also positive. He brings fun to the dressing room and is a good character. We have to help him to play well."

Leverkusen are full of momentum after opening their Champions League campaign with a comprehensive 4-0 victory over Feyenoord in midweek, with all four goals coming in the first half.

And Alonso wants to see more of the same from his players when Wolfsburg visit BayArena.

"We don't have much time to prepare for Wolfsburg, but that's nothing new for us," he added. "We have to make the best use of the time we have.

"It's important that we do the things that we did against Feyenoord and bring them onto the pitch on Sunday as well. We expect everyone to be available. We have a deep squad, everyone's ready."

Sergio Perez expressed his concerns about Red Bull's potential at the Singapore Grand Prix this weekend after citing a lack of balance during Friday's practice sessions.

Lando Norris set the pace, finishing 0.058 seconds clear of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, with the Perez's team-mate Max Verstappen 1.294secs off the pace in 15th. 

Perez managed a eighth place finish, just behind the Mercedes of George Russell and the RB of Daniel Ricciardo. 

The Mexican will be hopeful of a better outcome in this weekend's race after crashing out on the penultimate lap in Baku last week after an incident with Carlos Sainz. 

There is no driver in this season who has not finished a Grand Prix on more occasions than Perez (three level with Alex Albon and Yuki Tsunoda).

He has now gone 11 races without finishing in four seasons for Red Bull, his highest number of retirements with a team, surpassing the 10 in five years for Force India.

Reviewing the two practice sessions, and whether any progress was made between FP1 and FP2, Perez said: “I think we improved a little bit, but still we are lacking quite a lot of balance.

"It’s quite difficult out there to put a lap together, [so] it’s not looking great at the moment."

Perez went on to comment that the level of Red Bull’s struggles “took us by surprise” despite the problems they faced at the Marina Bay street circuit last season.

“Definitely we’ve got some work to do overnight because we are quite far [behind],” said the Mexican, who was 0.871s down on pace-setting McLaren rival Norris.

“We are nearly a second off the pace, so we need quite a big change to be able to come through. We’ll see what we’re able to do.”

Borussia Dortmund head coach Nuri Sahin believes a player strike may be close and should be taken seriously, amid their increased workload this season.

Along with their Bundesliga and DFB-Pokal commitments, Sahin's Dortmund are one of several sides involved in the expanded Champions League and FIFA Club World Cup competitions.

Manchester City and Spain midfielder Rodri said earlier this week that players could be close to a strike due to the increase in commitments at club and international level.

And Sahin concurs that they may not be far away.

"When players are already talking about strikes, you know it's [close to happening]," he told reporters during his pre-match press conference ahead of Sunday's trip to Stuttgart.

"Coaches like Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola have also been complaining about it for years. But nothing has changed. If the organisations or people don't worry about it, then we have to worry about it."

Dortmund have enjoyed an unbeaten start to the season, winning two and drawing one of their opening three Bundesliga matches, while opening their Champions League campaign with a commanding 3-0 win over Club Brugge.

Next up is a showdown with Stuttgart, who won all three of their meetings last term.

"We are travelling to Stuttgart with the aim of winning the game," Sahin added. "We'll be measured against that. We want to show a different face there than last season."

Girona head coach Michel has tasked his players to "turn the page" following their 1-0 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain on their Champions League debut. 

Girona frustrated their Parisian hosts, restricting Luis Enrique's side to just five shots on target from the 26 they attempted.

However, Blanquivermells hearts were broken in the 90th minute after Nuno Mendes' harmless delivery slipped through the hands of Paulo Gazzaniga. 

But the Catalan club's focus now returns to league action, having started the season with seven points from their opening five fixtures. 

Michel's side travel to the Estadio de Mestalla to face bottom-placed Valencia, a team they have enjoyed relative success against in recent years. 

Girona have won four of their eight meetings with Valencia in LaLiga (L4); only against Sevilla (six) have they achieved more wins in the top-flight (four also against Rayo Vallecano, Las Palmas and Celta Vigo).

And Michel insisted that despite their late defeat in midweek, his players are ready to return to winning ways. 

“The team is back to thinking only about LaLiga,” Michel told reporters.

“In situations of maximum physical and emotional exhaustion, perhaps there are still players who are still recovering. But our squad is very prepared.

"We need to be at our best, and we need the team switched on.

"After the historic game against PSG, people who have been playing for more years can turn the page quicker.

"Now, my job is to detect which players are in a better state of mind. We have shown that we are a small team with pride.

"That's why I need the people to be on board, to give the maximum help to their teammates."

Valencia have endured a difficult start to the campaign, picking up one point from their first five games. 

This weekend's hosts have now failed to win in their last 12 games in LaLiga. Their last joint longest winless streak was from November 2015 to February 2016.

Michel also boasts an impressive record against Valencia, winning three of his six league games against them (D1 L2). 

Only against Sevilla (five) has the Girona head coach recorded more wins as a top-flight coach (three, also against Alaves, Celta Vigo and Osasuna). 

Despite Valencia's slow start to the season, Michel was under no illusion that this Sunday's trip would be anything but easy. 

“Valencia will be a demanding game. They have only taken one point, but they are a team with very good players. At home, they are very dangerous," Michel said. 

New Zealand maintained their grip on the Bledisloe Cup with a 31-28 victory over Australia, but only after withstanding a spirited fightback from the Wallabies.

The All Blacks scored four first-half tries at the Accor Stadium, as they bounced back from their narrow defeat by South Africa last time out.

New Zealand came flying out of the blocks and were 21-0 to the good inside the opening 16 minutes, with Will Jordan, Rieko Ioane and Caleb Clarke all crossing.

Fraser McReight got Australia on the scoreboard, while Matt Faessler also went over, but Ardie Savea's converted try kept New Zealand in control at half-time at 28-14.

Damian McKenzie kicked the visitors further in front early in the second half, but Scott Robertson's side were made to cling on towards the end.

With Clarke and Anton Lienert-Brown sin-binned inside the final quarter of an hour, the Wallabies launched a late rally.

Hunter Paisami reduced the deficit, and the hosts closed the gap to a single score when Tom Wright went over in the final minute, but it proved too little too late for Joe Schmidt's side.

Data Debrief: Slipper out on his own as Savea surpasses McCaw

It was an historic day for Slipper, with the veteran prop becoming Australia's most-capped player when he ran on for his 140th Test early in the second half.

Ultimately, it proved a bittersweet day as he was forced off with a head injury just 21 minutes later, but he now stands alone on the Wallabies' all-time list.

However, the match belonged to New Zealand, who retained the Bledisloe Cup as they have done every year since 2003.

Savea created his own piece of history when he scored his 28th international try, surpassing the great Richie McCaw as the most by any All Blacks forward.

Emma Raducanu was forced to retire from her Korea Open quarter-final against Daria Kasatkina with a foot injury.

Raducanu, who beat Peyton Stearns and Yue Yuan on her way to a last-eight showdown with the top seed, withdrew from the contest after losing the opening set 6-1. 

The 21-year-old was looking to make her second WTA Tour semi-final this year, but struggled against the Russian who had beaten her in straight sets in both previous encounters.

Raducanu found herself immediately on the back foot after losing her opening game on serve, but got her first point on the board in the third game. 

Kasatkina then took control, racing into a comfortable lead as Raducanu required a medical timeout after the fifth game, having been broken to love. 

Despite a spirited showing in the final game that saw Raducanu handed a break point opportunity, Kasatkina held firm before seeing her British opponent retire. 

The world number 13 will face compatriot Diana Shnaider in the semi-finals, with a potential showpiece match against Beatriz Haddad Maia or Veronika Kudermetova awaiting her. 

Alec Bohm went 4 for 4 with a home run and four RBIs to lead a 17-hit attack that powered the Philadelphia Phillies to a playoff-clinching 12-2 rout of the New York Mets on Friday.

Bohm's three-run homer capped a big fourth inning in which the Phillies scored six times to break a 2-2 tie, and J.T. Realmuto added a two-run shot in the eighth to secure Philadelphia's place in the National League playoffs for the third consecutive year.

Philadelphia, which entered the day tied with the Los Angeles Dodgers for the NL's best record, can wrap up its first NL East title since 2011 by winning one of its two remaining games with the Mets this weekend.

The Phillies also received three hits and two RBIs from Nick Castellanos, while Johan Rojas had a two-run double among his two hits.

Jose Iglesias went 2 for 4 with a solo homer for New York, which had a four-game winning streak snapped. The Mets dropped a game back of Arizona for the NL's second wild card after the Diamondbacks earned a 7-4 win over the Milwaukee Brewers.

Iglesias led off the bottom of the first inning with a home run and Starling Marte followed with a single before later crossing the plate for a 2-0 New York lead against Philadelphia starter Cristopher Sanchez.

Sanchez (11-9) allowed just one more hit over his five-inning stint while finishing with seven strikeouts, and the Phillies scored single runs in the second and third before breaking things open in the fourth.

Rojas' two-run double in the fourth put Philadelphia ahead 4-2, and Bohm later delivered his 15th homer of the season to extend the margin to 8-2.

David Peterson (9-3) lasted just 3 2/3 innings for New York and was tagged for five runs - four earned - on eight hits.

Ohtani follows historic night with encore performance

Shohei Ohtani followed Thursday’s unforgettable performance with another record-breaking outing, and the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Colorado Rockies 6-4.

On Thursday, Ohtani became the first player in MLB history with 50 home runs and 50 steals in the same season, reaching the milestone by going 6 for 6 with three home runs, 10 RBIs and two stolen bases.

Ohtani finished Friday 3 for 4, launched his 52nd home run of the season and stole his 52nd base. It was the 14th time this season that he hit a home run and stole a base in the same game, an MLB record.

Teoscar Hernandez and Andy Pages also went deep for the Dodgers (92-62), whose magic number to clinch the NL West over the San Diego Padres was reduced to four.

The Dodgers opted for a bullpen day, with eight pitchers combining to allow just five hits and strike out 15 batters.

The Rockies squandered home runs from Charlie Blackmon, Michael Toglia and Sam Hilliard.

Kyle Freeland, who allowed four runs and seven hits in six innings, was saddled with the loss.

Orioles cool off Tigers to pad AL wild card lead

The Baltimore Orioles belted five home runs, including two each from Colton Cowser and James McCann, to increase their lead atop the American League wild card standings with a 7-1 victory over the Detroit Tigers.

Anthony Santander also homered for Baltimore, which got all its runs via the long ball to back seven scoreless innings from Corbin Burnes to move five games up on Kansas City for the AL's top wild card. The slumping Royals were dealt a 2-1 loss by the San Francisco Giants for their fifth straight defeat.

Detroit, which entered this key three-game series having won four straight, dropped one game behind Minnesota for the third and final wild card after the Twins posted a 4-2, 12-inning win over the Boston Red Sox.

Burnes (15-8) yielded just three hits and struck out eight to beat the Tigers for the second time in less than a week. The Baltimore ace also tossed seven scoreless innings in a 4-2 win at Detroit on Saturday.

Santander's two-run homer off Tyler Holton in the first inning staked the Orioles to an early lead, and Cowser made it 3-0 an inning later with a solo blast off Keider Montero.

McCann added a two-run shot in the fourth, and he and Cowser came through with solo homers off Montero in the sixth to increase the margin to 7-0.

The Tigers' lone run came on Trey Sweeney's RBI single in the ninth. Sweeney finished with two of Detroit's seven hits.

Carlos Alcaraz suffered defeat on his Laver Cup debut, as he was beaten in straight sets alongside Alexander Zverev in doubles by Taylor Fritz and Ben Shelton.

Team Europe put up a strong fight but struggled to match Fritz and Shelton, who won 7-6 (7-5) 6-4 in one hour and 37 minutes.

Alcaraz and Zverev made a slow start to the match, losing their serve in the fourth game as the Americans went on a three-game winning streak, but they pulled it back to level the tie, only to lose the tie-break.

Team Europe looked to have found their groove in the second set but failed to convert four break points in the fourth game as Fritz and Shelton levelled the score at 2-2.

A three-game winning run at the end of the set, including one more break, was enough to get Team World over the line, pulling them back to 2-2 at the end of day one.

Francisco Cerundolo had originally given Team World the lead with a shock win over Casper Ruud before Stefanos Tsitsipas and Grigor Dimitrov's wins had put Team Europe 2-1 up.

Tim Walter says he is proud of his "courageous" Hull City side after earning his first win in charge, beating Stoke City 3-1.

Narcis Pelach led the Potters out for the first time on Friday and saw his side take a 1-0 lead through Ben Wilmot into half-time. 

However, Hull came out fighting in the second half to claim three points for the first time this season.

Kasey Palmer saw a penalty saved just after the hour mark but turned in the rebound before goals from Regan Slater and an own goal from Wilmot completed their late turnaround.

It is a win that propels the Tigers from 19th to 13th in the Championship, above Stoke, and Walter believes it has been a long time coming.

"It's hard to describe because I never had this feeling before. I've never not had a win in five games, so for me, it's a new situation," Walter told Sky Sports.

"But I also knew the whole time that we can win. Today we did it and that's the reason I'm really proud of my boys. They deserved to win.

"I'm happy because they always believed they can win and that's important.

"After conceding the goal, we were better. We were more courageous. We showed more bravery and that's the key to the result."

Pelach succeeded Steven Schumacher as Stoke's manager following his shock sacking earlier this week, having won two of the five matches under the Englishman at the start of the season.

Stoke managed 14 shots against Hull, but only two efforts on target, with both of those coming in the first 45 minutes.

Despite starting with a defeat, Pelach is looking for the positives after such a short time with the squad.

"It's a pity we couldn't win the game," Pelach told BBC Radio Stoke.

"We wanted to take the points, but I think the lads tried to put a new style of play in place.

"But in the second half, we lost control and ran out of energy. We should have pressed more, but we will try to explain this tomorrow and keep working on the defensive style.

"There is some things to work on mentally and we will do it. We will take the positives, and we will improve."

Lando Norris topped the second practice session in Singapore but was "hoping to have a much bigger gap" over Charles Leclerc.

The Brit was 0.058 seconds clear of the Ferrari driver after an impressive session on Friday.

Norris had started strong in the first practice too, only for Leclerc to displace him by 0.076s, but he reversed the roles later in the day.

It was the sort of start he was looking for, as he sets out to close the 59-point gap to Max Verstappen, who struggled in practice, in the drivers' championship.

And Norris was feeling positive after the run, but admitted he would have preferred a bigger advantage over those behind him.

"Yeah, pace is good. I'm feeling good, it was also a nice lap," Norris said after the second session. "I think we're doing what we expect, I guess, to be up at the front and to be there with Ferrari.

"But it was a very nice lap and Charles is only [0.058s] behind. I was hoping to have a much bigger gap than what I had, honestly, which means they're quick, it means Ferrari are very, very fast.

"But, yeah, things are going well so far."

Unlike Norris, Verstappen endured another difficult day as he finished 15th, 1.294s behind Norris' time.

Red Bull dropped into second in the constructors' championship after Oscar Piastri's win in Azerbaijan last weekend and need a better performance in Singapore if they want to reassert themselves in the standings.

But Verstappen, who has not won any of the last seven races, was left frustrated by his lap time.

When asked to sum up his day, Verstappen said: "Difficult. Not having the grip that we would like. We have a few things to look at.

"I was not really struggling with the bumps or kerbs, just general grip, so we have to look at the trade-off between the two."

Carlos Sainz was six-tenths off the pace in third, while RB's Yuki Tsunoda and Daniel Ricciardo were surprise strong performers, finishing fourth and sixth respectively, either side of Piastri. 

Mercedes also struggled to match up, with George Russell taking seventh, having damaged a front wing late on, and Lewis Hamilton 10th.

Luis Enrique praised Ousmane Dembele for making positive strides at Paris Saint-Germain but backed him to become more ruthless in front of goal.

The 27-year-old has scored nine goals and provided 17 assists in 47 matches for PSG since joining from Barcelona for a reported fee of around €50million in August last year.

Following Kylian Mbappe's departure to Real Madrid, Dembele has stepped up, scoring three goals and providing two assists in four Ligue 1 games so far.

With Reims next up, Luis Enrique is confident Dembele will continue to improve as the season continues.

"Ousmane is like last season, perhaps a little more effective in terms of finishing," he told reporters.

"But he's always been decisive for us, he has that ability to beat opponents in a unique way. Maybe he needs to work more on his efficiency.

"Last year's version of Dembele was very good and this year's is better and we're working on making it better still."

Despite losing Mbappe at the end of last season, Luis Enrique assured everyone that he was happy with the squad that he has.

"I think we'll have an even better team next year, even if I don't know which players we'll have," Luis Enrique said.

"It's a positive thought that I'm trying to pass on to the club. This year we have a better team than last year."

PSG will be without Marco Asensio for the game against Reims after the Spanish forward suffered a muscle strain in his right thigh.

Goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma is also continuing to have treatment after picking up a muscle problem. Striker Goncalo Ramos and defenders Lucas Hernandez and Presnel Kimpembe are still out with injuries.

PSG have had little time to prepare to face Reims, who are sixth in the Ligue 1 standings, after their 1-0 win at home over Girona in their Champions League opener on Wednesday.

"It's the shortest we can have with only two days between each game," Luis Enrique added. "The risk after the Champions League is there.

"We're playing away against a good team but we hope we can manage these circumstances."

Rahmanullah Gurbaz scored his seventh ODI century, setting Afghanistan on their way to a dominant 177-run win over South Africa on Friday.

Afghanistan now have an unassailable 2-0 lead in their ODI series, with South Africa unable to mount any sort of threat in the sweltering heat in Sharjah.

Gurbaz set the tone from the off with his stand of 105 from 110 balls, which included 10 fours and three sixes, and put together a 101-run partnership with Rahmat Shah (50).

Nandre Burger eventually took Gurbaz, but Azmatullah Omarzai kept the pressure on with his unbeaten 86, bringing up his fastest ODI fifty, as they finished on 311-4.

With the intimidating target set, South Africa's chase got off to a decent start through Temba Bavuma (38) and Tony de Zorzi (31), but Afghanistan's bowlers soon stepped up their game.

Rashid Khan (5-19) and Nangeyalia Kharote (4-26) gave their opponents little to work with as none of the final seven batters hit double figures, with South Africa slumping to 134 all out in the 35th over.

Data Debrief: A historic stand

Gurbaz's century was his seventh in ODIs, breaking Mohammad Shahzad's record, while Shah brought up his 29th half-century in their brilliant stand.

Afghanistan's 177-run win against SA is their largest margin of victory in terms of runs in ODIs, beating their 154-win against Zimbabwe. It was also the tenth time they topped 300 in ODI cricket, and the first against South Africa.