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Abdeslam Ouaddou |
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Former Fulham defender Abdeslam Ouaddou, currently Valenciennes captain, has filed a legal complaint after being racially abused by a fan during a Ligue 1 match at Metz on Saturday, his club said.
A furious Ouaddou walked towards the stands at halftime to remonstrate with a Metz spectator who had repeatedly insulted him, Valenciennes said in a statement on Sunday. He was forced back to the pitch by stewards and received a yellow card.
The Morocco defender filed a complaint immediately after the match.
"The club supports Abdes (Abdeslam) in this ordeal," the statement read. "Such insults should never take place, in a stadium or elsewhere."
The 38-year-old supporter, whose identity was not revealed, was being questioned by police, Metz club sources said.
"The words were very strong," Ouaddou told reporters after the match. "I told the referee about it but he told me to concentrate on the match. The insults continued so I walked towards that person. I wanted an explanation."
Metz said they had also filed a complaint and the French Professional Football League (LFP) said it would do as well.
LFP president Frederic Thiriez suggested referee Damien Ledentu could have stopped the match.
"Regarding refereeing, instructions were given at the start of the season on how to react in case of racist incidents," Thiriez said in a statement.
"The referees now have more room to act and can go as far as stopping a match, temporarily or definitely."
The LFP's disciplinary committee will meet on Thursday to study the incident and the referee's game report.
French Sports Minister Roselyne Bachelot-Narquin and her junior minister Bernard Laporte also hinted in a joint statement that the referee had been wrong not to halt play.
"Roselyne Bachelot-Narquin and Bernard Laporte insist on the fact that immediate measures can and must be taken by match officials after the first signs of physical or verbal violence," the joint statement read.