Berlin, Dec 19: Bayern Munich overcame a red card for Franck Ribery to reach the quarterfinals of the German Cup with a 2-0 win at Augsburg on Tuesday.
Ribery set up Mario Gomez for Bayern's opening goal in the 26th minute of the third round match, when the Frenchman got his cross in despite the attention of three defenders.
It should have been 2-0 before the break, when Anatoliy Tymoshchuk struck the crossbar with a tremendous shot from distance. Play continued despite TV replays showing the ball crossed the line. Augsburg goalkeeper Alexander Manninger denied Bastian Schweinsteiger from the rebound and the Bayern midfielder struck the crossbar with an overhead kick from the second attempt.
Ribery was sent off early in the second half after an altercation with Koo Ja-Cheol. The Frenchman struck Koo lightly in the face in retaliation for a slap unseen by the referee, leaving the South Korean lucky to escape with just a yellow.
"The red card was provoked, but it should be discussed," said Bayern coach Jupp Heynckes.
Augsburg's penalty claims in the 53rd-- when Dante appeared to handle the ball in the area -- went unheeded.
Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer -- who was superb throughout -- denied Torsten Oehrl an equalizer, before Thomas Mueller reached the keeper's long kick upfield and crossed for Xherdan Shaqiri to secure the result with five minutes remaining.
"To have such a present, to play against Bayern with 10 men and without Ribery, and still make nothing of it, then we don't deserve to go further," Augsburg midfielder Daniel Baier said.
The win wraps up a good few months for Bayern, which has a nine-point lead in the Bundesliga.
"Altogether I'm very happy because we played outstanding football over long periods in the first half of the season," Heynckes said. "It couldn't have gone any better."
Elsewhere, Schalke's miserable end to the year continued despite the dismissal of Huub Stevens as coach on Sunday, with the team losing 2-1 at home to Mainz.
Marco Caligiuri opened the scoring for Mainz in the 30th with a fantastic strike into the right corner.
Klaas-Jan Huntelaar pulled one back from close range with 15 minutes remaining, but Nicolai Mueller scored in the 83rd to ensure the 2011 champion's seven-game run without a win continued.
"Anyone who saw that performance, especially in the second half, could see that the team played well," Schalke's interim coach Jens Keller said.
Mainz coach Thomas Tuchel, who angrily denied newspaper reports linking him with the Schalke position before the game, was sent to the stands for stepping onto the pitch in response to a two-footed lunge from Jermaine Jones on Caligiuri.
"From my perspective it looked like Caligiuri was seriously injured," Tuchel said. "It was just a bit of pushing, here and there, nothing serious."
U.S. international Jones received a yellow for the initial challenge.
Third-division Kickers Offenbach provided an upset by beating Fortuna Duesseldorf 2-0, with Mathias Fetsch and Stefan Vogler scoring for the home side in last 15 minutes.
Freiburg won 1-0 at third-division Karlsruher SC thanks to Jonathan Schmid's goal in the second minute, firing through the goalkeeper's legs.
Defending Cup holder Borussia Dortmund hosts Hannover on Wednesday.
