Bordeaux humiliated Monaco 6-0 and embarrassed the watching Prince Albert to move within a point of French league leaders Lyon on Sunday.
Meanwhile, French giants Paris St Germain plunged closer to the relegation trapdoor when they squandered a one-goal lead to lose 2-1 at bitter rivals Marseille.
The defeat left PSG just two places and three points off the drop zone and piled further pressure on coach Paul Le Guen while Marseille moved into fourth place.
All the goals came in the second-half in Monaco as Laurent Blanc's side upped the pressure on Lyon who lost at Le Mans on Saturday just four days before their Champions League clash with Manchester United.
Bordeaux opened the scoring at the Stade Louis II six minutes after the interval when Argentine import Fernando Cavenaghi converted a Johan Micoud pass.
Micoud added a second on the hour mark before Cavenaghi added his second, and his team's third, four minutes later.
Monaco's problems deepened in the 65th minute when Diego Perez was red-carded for a foul on David Bellion leaving the way clear for Micoud, Marouane Chamakh and Gabriel Obertan to compete the rout.
At the Stade Velodrome, PSG took the lead on the half hour mark when Laurent Bonnart brought down Amara Diane which allowed Jerome Rothen to score from the penalty spot.
But Nigerian star Taye Taiwo levelled with a drive from an acute angle in the 35th minute before Mamadou Niang added a crucial second just before half-time.
Mathieu Valbuena created the opportunity for Niang to register his 12th league goal of the season.
"We felt we were on top in the first half hour so it is really annoying to lose like that," Le Guen said. "It's been a long time since Marseille have been tested like that at the Velodrome so it's even more annoying not to be rewarded with points."
With one eye on tomorrow's European showdown with United, Lyon coach Alain Perrin decided to leave Karim Benzema on the bench on Saturday despite already missing injured Brazilian attacker Fred.
It was another Brazilian who stole the headlines as Tulio De Melo scored the only goal of the game in the 70th minute from a cross by Ibrahima Camara.
Le Mans moved into fifth place in the table with 37 points.
Nancy remain third but still eight points behind Lyon, and seven behind Bordeaux, after crashing to a 4-0 defeat at St Etienne.
Lille eased their relegation fears with a 3-1 win over fellow strugglers Rennes with much-travelled Dutch striker Patrick Kluivert scoring twice.
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