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 0-1 Real Sociedad: Oyarzabal seals away win
Girona's indifferent start to their LaLiga campaign continued as they slipped down to 13th following a 1-0 loss to Real Sociedad.
Coming off a gutsy victory over Athletic Bilbao, last season's surprise package Girona have failed to string consecutive wins together this term and have 12 points from 10 league games.
The visitors went ahead when captain Mikel Oyarzabal headed home Ander Barrenetxea's cross from the left for his first goal of the season.
Arnaut Danjuma had some presentable opportunities to restore parity, but the former Villarreal, Tottenham and Everton forward failed to bury any of his three shots.
Indeed, without Bryan Gil and Yaser Asprilla, who were injured, Girona failed to test La Real too much, accumulating only 0.38 expected goals (xG) from their eight attempts as they slumped to a fourth league defeat of the season.
Data Debrief: La Real continue to get the better of Girona
Girona have played more games against La Real without winning (P9 D6 L3) than they have against any other opponent in LaLiga.
Indeed, La Real have not lost any of their last five games against Girona in all competitions (D3 W2).
Girona boss Michel has managed eight games in all competitions against La Real without a win, too.
Bayern Munich 4-0 Stuttgart: Kane hat-trick keeps hosts top of Bundesliga
Harry Kane's hat-trick guided Bayern Munich to a 4-0 victory over visiting Stuttgart on Saturday to snap their three-game winless run across all competitions.
Kane, who had missed a golden chance in front of goal in the 51st minute, broke the deadlock six minutes later, rifling in from outside the box.
The England captain, who had not scored in his previous two Bundesliga games, then drilled in following a goalmouth scramble on the hour.
He secured his hat-trick in the 80th minute with his eighth league goal of the season after Joao Palhinha's shot was blocked, with substitute Kingsley Coman curling in Bayern's fourth goal in the 89th.
The result keeps the Bavarians at the top of the standings on 17 points, with a better goal difference than RB Leipzig, who were 2-0 victors at Mainz earlier on Saturday.
Freiburg are third on 15 with champions Bayer Leverkusen in fourth, one point back after their 2-1 win over Eintracht Frankfurt.
Data Debrief: Goals galore for Kane and Bayern
This marked Kane's third hat-trick of the season for Bayern in all competitions. It brings his tally in the Bundesliga to eight goals this season, topping the charts at Bayern.
Bayern have scored in their last 14 games in the Bundesliga, their longest run of games with a goal in the competition since a run of 43 games from September 30, 2022 to January 12, 2024.
Bayern are also unbeaten in their seven games so far this season and have scored at least six more goals than any other team in the division (24, Leverkusen have 18).
Milan 1-0 Udinese: Chukwueze goal enough despite Reijnders red card
Ten-man Milan held on to secure a 1-0 home win over Udinese thanks to Samuel Chukwueze's early goal.
Chukwueze struck low into the corner from a Christian Pulisic assist in the 13th minute of Saturday's Serie A contest at San Siro.
Yet the challenge of holding onto that lead was made much tougher when midfielder Tijjani Reijnders was sent off.
Netherlands international Reijnders received his marching orders in the 29th minute after colliding with Sandi Lovric, who was through on goal.
Milan are third in the league standings with 14 points, equal with Inter Milan in second and two behind leaders Napoli.
Udinese pushed to exploit their numerical advantage in the second half and they found the net through Christian Kabasele deep into stoppage time.
However, after a lengthy VAR check, the goal was disallowed for offside, ensuring the win for Milan.
Data Debrief: Captain America
Milan star Pulisic is the only player to have scored 10+ goals (17) and provided 10+ assists (11) from the beginning of last season in Serie A.
In fact, only Chelsea's Cole Palmer (44 – 28G, 16A) has been directly involved in more goals than Pulisic (28 – 17G, 11A) of midfielders in the big five European Leagues from the beginning of 2023-24.
Milan had to do it the hard way following Reijnders' dismissal. Only Bologna (54) have received more red cards than Milan in the last 10 Serie A campaigns (53).
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