Anthony Martial made an immediate impact off the bench to salvage AS Monaco a 1-1 draw with Saint-Etienne in Ligue 1 this evening.
The point does no favours to either side's slim title ambitions as they each sought to close the gap on the top three of Marseille, Lyon and leaders Paris Saint-Germain.
With the stakes high, the opening 45 minutes at Stade Louis II was predictably cagey as Monaco dominated possession and Saint-Etienne threatened on the counter-attack.
Les Verts had the best two chances of the first half as Kevin Monnet-Paquet forced Danijel Subasic to tip over the crossbar with a close-range shot and Mevlut Erding struck into the side-netting from a tight angle.
The Champions League quarter-finalists recalled former Manchester United forward Dimitar Berbatov to their starting XI, but he was quiet as Matheus Carvalho headed Monaco's only decent first-half opportunity over the bar.
The Bulgarian should have given his side the lead eight minutes after the restart, only to volley high from a good position.
As Monaco sensed that they were getting on top, they made an attacking change by bringing on Bernardo Silva for Geoffrey Kondogbia, but their gamble backfired as Erding nodded Saint-Etienne ahead just after the hour mark.
Leonardo Jardim's next substitution proved much more effective as Martial equalised two minutes after his arrival, firing the ball inside the left-hand post after collecting a 68th-minute cross from Layvin Kurzawa.
Neither side were willing to risk going home empty handed as they settled for a result which leaves fourth-placed Monaco one point ahead of Saint-Etienne in the table, but five points behind leaders PSG.
