Frankfurt, Dec 22: Borussia Moenchengladbach knocked out title holder Schalke from the German Cup with a 3-1 win on Wednesday, while fourth-tier Holstein Kiel stunned Mainz 2-0 to reach the quarterfinals for the first time in 68 years.
Schalke finished the match with nine men after red cards for top scorer Klaas-Jan Huntelaar in the first minute of the second half and Jermaine Jones in injury time.
Rising star Marco Reus scored two goals for Moenchengladbach and played a role in another as the surprise team of the season continued its strong run through two domestic competitions.
Stuttgart beat Hamburger SV 2-1 on two goals from striker Cacau.
Kiel had already eliminated two second-division teams to make the third round. The team from northern Germany went ahead after six minutes on an own goal from Anthony Ujah and Steve Mueller secured the victory with a goal in the second half.
Kiel's reward is a quarterfinal match against Bundesliga champion Borussia Dortmund, which advanced on Tuesday.
Hertha Berlin defeated Kaiserslautern 3-1 to reach the last eight for the first time in four years. Hertha won under interim coach Rainer Widmayer after firing Markus Babbel on Sunday.
Team manager Michael Preetz, whose dispute with Babbel led to his dismissal, said Michael Skibbe was expected to be presented on Thursday as new coach. Skibbe, a former assistant with the German national team whose clubs have included Borussia Dortmund, Bayer Leverkusen and Eintracht Frankfurt, is now in Turkey with Eskisehir.
Schalke also was without head coach Huub Stevens, who was attending to his ill mother.
Moenchengladbach narrowly escaped relegation last season but finished the first half of the Bundesliga in fourth place and put Schalke under pressure from the start and went ahead after 18 minutes.
Reus crossed from the right, Kyriakos Papadopoulos' half clearance landed in front of Juan Arango, who drilled a left-foot shot from the edge of the box.
Despite losing Huntelaar, who was sent off for dissent, Schalke played better in the second half but conceded again in the 56th.
Reus caught Schalke goalkeeper Lars Unnerstall on the wrong foot to net from the edge of the area.
Schalke pulled one back in the 70th when Moenchengladbach's goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen fumbled a shot by Jose Manuel Jurado and Julian Draxler collected the ball and to slot into the empty net.
Ter Stegen made up for his mistake by catching a good header from Raul.
Reus secured the victory in the 89th, after collecting a perfect through ball from Arango. Unnerstall raced out of the area but missed the ball with his attempted clearance and Reus strolled into the net.
Jones was sent off with his second yellow card after a clash with Igor de Camargo late in the match.
In Berlin, Adrian Ramos scored late in the first half and Peirre-Michel Lasogga and Patrick Ebert added second-half goals for Berlin. Itay Shechter scored for Kaiserslautern.
Cacau scored in the 23rd and 62nd in Stuttgart and the home side overcame an own goal by William Kvist to edge Hamburger SV.
It was the first defeat for Hamburg after nine games with new coach Thorsten Fink in charge.
Stuttgart will next play Bayern Munich.
The draw late Wednesday produced the following two other quarterfinal pairings—Hoffenheim vs. Greuther Fuerth and Hertha Berlin vs. Borussia Moenchengladbach. The matches will be played Feb. 7-8.
