A late goal from Jefferson Farfan earned Schalke all three points against Bayer Leverkusen and took them up to third in the Bundesliga table.

The Peruvian struck in the 82nd minute of a tight derby match at the BayArena to take the Royal Blues to within four points of league leaders Bayern Munich, and just one adrift of their local rivals Borussia Dortmund.

Leverkusen were unable to build on their impressive 2-1 win over Valencia in midweek and this latest defeat will only revive criticism of their coach Robin Dutt, whose side remain in mid-table.

Schalke coach Huub Stevens resisted the temptation of giving new signing Timo Hildebrand his debut in goal, preferring instead to stick with Lars Unnerstall, who kept a clean sheet against Larnaca in midweek.

And the youngster appeared keen to demonstrate why he should remain number one as he repelled everything that came his way.

He made his first intervention look a bit more dramatic than necessary as he denied Michal Kadlec in the 13th minute.

He picked the ball out of his own goal to restart with a free-kick in the 25th minute as Michael Ballack's effort was rightly ruled out for offside.

Schalke's best chance in the first half was a diagonal shot which Klaas Jan Huntelaar sent just wide of the far post.

The home side almost took the lead on the hour mark when Huntelaar was denied by Bernd Leno after good work by Julian Draxler.

A clash between Ballack and Jermaine Jones prompted Schalke coach Stevens to give the former Germany international a piece of his mind from the sidelines.

Unnerstall then took centre stage as he denied Andre Schurrle in the 82nd minute, and the Royal Blues went straight back up the other end of the field to net the winner.

Farfan used his pace to break away and race almost the full length of the pitch before finishing into the bottom corner to earn Schalke the spoils.