Schweinsteiger, Reserves Down Bottom of Table Rain am Lech 3-1

When winning is contagious, sometimes scoring becomes contagious too.

Tobias Schweinsteiger, the elder statesmen of the reserve team, scored the second Bayern Munich II hat-trick in as many games as the reserves trounced bottom of the table side TSV 1896 Rain am Lech 3-1.

Schweinsteiger took the place of Julian Green – out with an ankle injury – up top and scored the three goals necessary for die kleine Bayern to win their 11th match of 12. FC Bayern now has 33 points, ten points ahead of SpVgg Greuther Fürth II for tops in the Regionalliga Bayern.

The first goal did not occur until the 37th minute, where a Edwin Schwarz headed a Benno Schwarz corner kick on frame. After a rebound off of Stefan Buck, the ball landed right to the foot of Schweinsteiger, who poked the ball five meters into the back of the net.

The next two goals were less thanks to lucky bounces and more thanks to Mitchell Weiser. Schweinsteiger and Weiser had great interplay in the 49th minute to give the 31-year-old space for a far corner strike. A counterattack then featured in the 66th minute and Weiser found Schweinsteiger again to complete his hat-trick.

Schweinsteiger recorded the third hat-trick for the reserves in the 2013/14 season, joining Green and Bastian Fischer in the achievement. His season goal tally now sits at seven, second only to Green on the team.

Weiser's two goal assists has continued his impressive form in recent weeks. He appears to be the number one option for manager Erik ten Hag, starting on the left wing for the reserves in four of the last five games. He may be in line for another loan spell if Matthias Sammer does not call him into the professional side.

Patrick Weihrauch benched this week, with ten Hag rotating Alessandro Schöpf and Rico Streider against the last place opponent. Buck, Schmitz, and Vladimir Rankovic continued their consecutive game streaks to all 12 games.

FC Bayern München II will take their 33 points to SV Seligenporten next Friday where the reserves hope the contagion continues to spread.