last 16 - report

Magath sees Royal Blues ease into cup quarter-final

The biggest compliment for the Royal Blues' performance came from the opposition goalkeeper. "Schalke outclassed us tonight", said Gabor Kiraly after seeing his side 1860 Munich slump to a 3-0 defeat in the third round of the DFB Cup.

Yet it was the second division outfit who had the first really clear-cut chance. "I have to thank Manuel Neuer and Benedikt Höwedes because I brought the situation about by losing the ball", admitted youngster Christoph Moritz. The two European Under-21 champions blocked efforts from Stefan Aigner and Aleksandar Ignjovski when both looked likely to score in the 37th minute.

It was 1860's only sniff of goal in the entire game. For Schalke, who rested Jefferson Farfan for the trip to the Allianz Arena, it was the signal to start pressing in a bid to kill the game off early. Rafinha showed good determination to follow up on the rebound and register on 41, a goal the diminutive Brazilian celebrated in rollicking style, striking as many as half a dozen different poses.

The Royal Blues should even have gone in at half-time two goals to the good. Christoph Moritz's 45th minute strike was disallowed, however, because an offside Schalke player was alleged to have blocked Kiraly's line of sight. "But there was no one in the way", said Moritz after seeing the television replays confirm his view of the situation.

This injustice seemed to spur Schalke on even more as they strung together some fine moves to create five chances in the first twelve minutes of the second half, one of which was converted by Höwedes on 48 to put the Royal Blues within reach of victory. "We had a very good spell there but it only lasted about ten minutes", said Felix Magath after the final whistle, attempting to dampen the euphoria straightaway. "That's why I'm not going to claim we're a top side yet. But after the second goal we saw the game out comfortably and deservedly reached the quarter-final stage." Höwedes capped their performance with a neat diving header for his second and Schalke's third goal of the night on 81.

"Schalke deserved to go through as everyone saw", conceded Lions boss Ewald Lienen. "But we can still take some positives from the game. We were more solid at the back than we have been in the league recently and we did more running. In the end, though, we were lucky not to concede more."

1860 Munich: Kiraly - Rukavina, Felhi, Hoffmann, Holebas - Aigner, Ignjovski, Ludwig (Rösler 86'), Camdal (Kaiser 56') - Cooper (Mlapa 56'), Lauth
Schalke: Neuer - Höwedes, Zambrano, Bordon, Westermann - Moritz - Schmitz, Rafinha (Pliatsikas 70') - Holtby - Kuranyi, Altintop
Goals: 0-1 Rafinha (41'), 0-2 Höwedes (48'), 0-3 Höwedes (81')
Referee: Schmidt (Stuttgart)
Attendance: 28,500
Yellow cards: Felhi, Ludwig - Zambrano