A goal in the 84th minute from Jefferson Farfan spared the Royal Blues' blushes and took them through to the last eight at the expense of last season's semi-finalists, who put up a stern fight in Bavaria.

Raul set up the Peruvian for a goal which brings 2010 to a successful end for Schalke when it was looking so bleak just a month ago.

Felix Magath's side go into 2011 still in two cup competitions , having also reached the last 16 of the Champions League, where they will face Valencia, and having moved up to mid-table in the Bundesliga when they were inside the bottom three for much of the season.

The future is not looking so bright for Borussia Monchengladbach, on the other hand.

They end 2010 glued to the bottom of the Bundesliga while a 2-0 defeat to league rivals Hoffenheim tonight saw them go out of the DFB-Pokal.

Gylfi Thor Sigurdsson and Demba Ba were on target for Ralf Rangnick's side at the Rhein-Neckar Arena.

Four more cup ties will be played tomorrow night with the holders Bayern Munich travelling to Stuttgart while Wolfsburg host Energie Cottbus and Cologne entertain Duisburg.

Eintracht Frankfurt head to Alemannia Aachen while the two remaining third-round ties between Kickers Offenbach and Nurnberg and Koblenz and Kaiserslautern have been postponed due to the bad weather.

They will both now be played on January 18.