"All victories are important for us but especially at a difficult time," said Bordeaux manager Paulo Sousa.

Already deprived of defenders Edson Mexer and Vukasin Jovanovic who were both suspended, midfielder Youssef Ait Bennasser, who could not play because he is on-loan from Monaco, Bordeaux lost centre-back Laurent Koscielny to injury on Sunday morning and winger Jimmy Briand during the warm-up.

Jonathan Cafu, who was on-loan at Red Star Belgrade last season, made his first appearance since 2018 on the left side of a back five and struggled.

Monaco, who had climbed away from the relegation zone with three victories in their previous four league games, took the lead with a goal by Islam Slimani on 15 minutes.

After that, even though the hosts' fans fell silent in the first half as part of a protest against their owners, the visitors failed to exploit the makeshift home defence.

Brazilian Pablo levelled with a powerful header from a corner after 29 minutes. 

In the 67th minute, Slimani handled while standing in the wall at a free kick, conceding a penalty and incurring his second yellow card.

Nicolas de Preville coolly converted the spot-kick to give Bordeaux victory.

"There were a lot of players from the starting 11 who were not here," Bordeaux midfielder Aurelien Tchouameni said. 

"This shows the strength of character of our team. Some of them didn't have much playing time this season. They stood up."

Later on Sunday, Saint-Etienne drew 0-0 at home against Montpellier as the sides managed just two shots on target.

Bordeaux climbed to 22 points from 14 matches, 11 behind leaders Paris Saint-Germain and two behind Angers. They lead Marseille, who visit Toulouse later on Sunday, on goal difference.

Saint-Etienne are fifth, also on 22 points. Montpellier moved to sixth two points further back.