Daily Schmankerl: Bayern contacts Sevilla for Lucas Ocampos; Ancelotti agrees with Everton; and MORE!!!

Bayern Munich contacts Sevilla for Lucas Ocampos (GianlucaDiMarzio)

This came out of the blue: according to Gianluca DiMarzio, Bayern Munich has contacted Sevilla about 25-year-old attacker Lucas Ocampos. The Argentinian, who transferred to Sevilla from Olympique Marseille this past July, has played exclusively at right wing this season, scoring five goals and assisting one in just over 1,200 minutes. He previously played on the left.

The reason why Bayern is supposedly interested in Ocampos is not exactly clear. DiMarzio writes,

The club just found out that they have drawn Chelsea in the last 16 of the Champions League and now will hit the market to build their squad for the rest of the season. One name that they like is Lucas Ocampos, a winger born in 1994 who has spent time at both Genoa and Milan.

Why another winger, though, whichever side he plays on? Serge Gnabry is healthy, Kingsley Coman’s injury should not sideline him too long into the new year, Ivan Perisic is healthy, and Alphonso Davies should also be available to play once David Alaba is no longer needed at center-back. Oh, and Phil Coutinho is pretty good at left wing, too.

If Bayern wanted to have an extra man in lieu of Leroy Sané, who (according to Bild) will probably not join the club over the winter, the summer will be too late. This rumor is simply puzzling.

Bavarian Dog Works (Muller & co)

Woof. Here’s a gallery of the writers’ pups. We can assure you that they’re all very good boys.

Grid View

• INNN’s pupper, Muller Soooo cute.
• Same puppy + his own teddy bear Shh, don’t wake him.
• Phil’s lil doggo He looks a bit like Dobby, doesn’t he?
• Evan’s handsome boy (or girl) Enjoying a nice car ride.
• Marcus’ pup Look at his whiskers!
• Joshua’s little buddy He has his own blanket!
• Thor’s mighty steed Cross him at your own risk.

Bayern legends bested by Dortmund in Brazil (Bundesliga.com)

The Bayern legends fell to Borussia Dortmund to claim fourth place at the Legends Cup Brazil 2019. The game was the playoff for third. Bayern had been eliminated by São Paulo, who eventually finished first, and Dortmund by Barcelona.

Lucas Barrios scored a brace and Jan Koller added one more to give Dortmund a 3-0 lead, but Bayern battled back with goals by Zvjezdan Misimovic and Ivica Olic. But Miroslav Klose was denied a last-minute equalizer by Patrick Owomoyela and Roman Weidenfeller.

Klose, ever the responsible coach, had joined the rest of the legends after coaching his U17 team to a 2-1 win over Hoffenheim on Saturday. It was Klose’s first trip in a long while. He said (FCBayern.com), “It’s the first time I’ve been in Brazil since the 2014 World Cup – perhaps I might not have been allowed in before.”

Check out the FCBayern.com for some highlights from the match.

Chelsea already looking for weaknesses (football.london)

Football London gives a fairly flattering profile of our beloved Bayern for the local fans and surveys the club’s strengths as seen from across the Channel. Obviously, Robert Lewandowski and Serge Gnabry are two of the biggest names they cite. And the Londoners also praise Philippe Coutinho, who is obviously also a familiar name.

But beyond that they single out only Joshua Kimmich and Thiago Alcantara as “but two more of their elite-level talents [who] have the ability to win matches single-handedly.” The key weakness they see is Bayern’s coaching situation. Beginning with the formation Chelsea might anticipate — “it’s ultimately impossible to predict what shape they may be come their Champions League tie with Chelsea” — they view the club’s lack of a permanent coach as the wildcard in Chelsea’s favor.

The one other key point:

It’s also reasonable to suggest that Bayern lack a bit of intensity in comparison to many of the other top sides in Europe.

Frank Lampard has a youthful and highly mobile squad at his disposal. If he is able to inspire and motivate his players to play at a pace Bayern cannot live with, while maintaining their organisation without the ball, then Chelsea could have too much for the German champions.

That is a fair observation. Under Hansi Flick, however, Bayern has certainly made an effort to address precisely that point. It will be interesting to see what happens at both clubs between now and the first leg.

Carlo Ancelotti accepts new job at Everton (Sky Sports)

It is not yet official, but Sky Sports is reporting that Carlo Ancelotti has already reached an agreement in principle with Liverpool-based club Everton. Everton fired Marco Silva after their humiliating 5-2 defeat to Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool. Carlo himself was fired by Napoli after securing a 4-0 win over Genk in the Champions League on account of flagging performances in Serie A and a falling out with his players and management.

So the merry-go-round for Ancelotti goes on. His mission now, it seems, is to save Everton from relegation. They are currently in 16th place, three points ahead of Aston Villa and Southampton.

It’s almost as if Serie A is part of the problem (BBC etc.)

Today in “You can’t make this shit up,” Serie A decided it was a good idea to publicize their “No To Racism” campaign by using promotional posters depicting monkeys in jerseys with the outlines of soccer-ball pentagons over their eyes and nose. The BBC’s tweet gave a good look at the posters in question:

There’s tone deaf, there’s passively racist — and then there’s Serie A. Not pictured in the photo above: a black Italian soccer player or official who might, I don’t know, have some insight on how to combat racism in the stands of Italy’s stadiums. Hell, if the leaders of Serie A were interested in a clue, they could even ask Kevin-Prince Boateng, who plays for Fiorentina.

Oh.