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Bruno Cheyrou scored his first goal in a Bordeaux shirt to condemn Monaco to their second defeat of the season on Saturday.
The former Liverpool midfielder surprised the Monaco defence with his clever free kick just shy of the hour mark. While the visiting wall jumped to try to cut out an aerial shot, Cheyrou struck the ball all along the ground past Guillaume Warmuz and into the net.
It was the only goal of a mediocre game, largely dominated by the home side. Monaco Coach Didier Deschamps described his side’s performance as “very poor”, and they seemingly had one eye on Tuesday’s crunch Champions’ League qualifier against Real Betis.
The result takes Bordeaux momentarily joint top of the table, level with Paris Saint-Germain on nine points, though the capital club can break clear when they play Troyes on Sunday.
Warmuz, who was standing in for the injured Flavio Roma, was called into action twice in the first 10 minutes as Ricardo’s team began well. First Julien Faubert crossed for Lilian Laslandes, whose header was easily saved, then Warmuz made a sharp stop to deny Jean-Claude Darcheville who had been served by the impressive Faubert.
Monaco strived to get back in the game, but though Ernesto Chevanton had two efforts that flew wide, they never looked like threatening Bordeaux’s watertight defence in the first half.
Warmuz had already saved one Cheyrou free kick – and a low shot from Laslandes – when Bordeaux eventually broke the deadlock on 59 minutes.
Monaco looked to respond and Spanish midfielder Gerard almost broke free nine minutes before the end. He raced onto an Olivier Kapo pass but Ulrich Ramé saved the day with some alert goalkeeping, smothering the ball at the former Barcelona player’s feet.
Toifilou Maoulida had the last chance to earn a point for the Monégasques, but after beating the last defender his shot was saved at the second attempt by Ramé.
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