Uefa is to investigate the crush of supporters and major security scare that overshadowed this hugely controversial victory for Manchester United. Riot police fired tear gas into an overcrowded section of United supporters after they tried to scale the perimeter fences to get away from the type of incident that demonstrates why metal cages are no longer allowed inside English football stadia.
Lille OSC 0 Manchester Utd 1 Giggs 83 (Attendance: 41,000)
United have pledged to assist Uefa with their inquiries and a meeting was hastily arranged with the club's security officials at the end of a match in which it felt like a miracle nobody was hospitalised. Uefa's match delegates were so concerned there were appeals over the loudspeakers for calm in the away end.
Appallingly, there was nothing approaching calm on the pitch. When Ryan Giggs scored the winner with a quickly taken free-kick seven minutes from the end the Lille coaching staff were so incensed they encouraged some of their players to leave the pitch as a protest. In extraordinary scenes, United's players ran to the sidelines to object only for Alex Ferguson to rush across and furiously push them back on to the pitch. Uefa's charge-sheet is bound to be long.
First, though, it must look at what happened off the pitch. The actions of the police warrants intense scrutiny. There were clearly United fans being crushed and several had scaled the perimeter fences, signalling frantically for help. One woman was dragged out by security stewards. Another fan ran on to the playing surface and signalled that the game should be stopped and for five terrible minutes of confusion and mayhem there were scenes that were worryingly reminiscent of the early stages of the Hillsborough disaster.
Thankfully, it proved to be nowhere near as serious but there were far too many supporters shoehorned inside the right-hand corner of the away end, with bags of room at the opposite corner. There were reports late last night that the French police had allowed United fans into the area even though they had black-market tickets for other sections of the stadium.
What is beyond doubt is that the police handled the issue atrociously. The stewards at the front of the stand had been trying to release the fans but the police seemed intent on treating supporters who were clearly in distress as troublemakers.
The firing of tear gas did at least succeed in moving the fans away from the cages but it was an heavy-handed gesture, the only possible explanation being that the police believed the fans were trying to get on the pitch to cause trouble.
It was certainly fortunate that many fans were not hurt as, first, they were pressed against the 12ft-high fences and, secondly, there was a stampede as they tried to get away from the tear gas.
Uefa may also be unimpressed by the fact that United fans stood in an all-seated area throughout the match, a practice that has got the club in trouble before. As harsh as it may seem, a disciplinary charge could conceivably be brought against the club.
The drama unfolded throughout the opening 15 minutes of a match that did little to avert people's eyes away. The opening half was particularly poor for a game at this stage of the competition. The beauty of United's near-complete rehabilitation in the Premiership is that they have played football as it is meant to be played: adventurously and with flair. This, however, was a night for them to show other qualities such as tenacity, togetherness and, most of all, a refusal to be out-muscled.
Ferguson will be disappointed by the frequency with which accomplished passers such as Michael Carrick conceded possession. Cristiano Ronaldo was disappointingly subdued, substituted midway through the second half, and Ryan Giggs flickered only sporadically.
The game did not liven up until the 51st minute when one tremendous run by Wayne Rooney saw him slalom past three defenders. A great goal beckoned but Rooney was caught in two minds and tried to pick out Giggs at the far post when he ought to have shot.
Rooney's surge instigated the first period of genuine excitement. Two minutes later Ronaldo ran clear only for the goalkeeper Tony Sylva to charge down his shot. Then Lille worked up a head of steam, Mathieu Bodmer seeing a shot saved by Edwin van der Sar and having a penalty appeal turned down after being caught by Rio Ferdinand.
United were indebted to the Dutch referee, Eric Braamhaar, again when Peter Odemwingie headed in but was denied a goal for pushing Nemanja Vidic. Cue Giggs's cheeky free-kick and a rancorous end to an evening of poor football yet high drama.
Guardian Service
LILLE: Sylva, Chalme, Plestan, Tavlaridis, Tafforeau, Debuchy, Bodmer, Makoun, Obraniak (Michel Bastos 89), Fauvergue (Cabaye 57), Odemwingie (Audel 75). Subs Not Used: Malicki, Schmitz, Lichtsteiner, Mirallas. Booked: Fauvergue, Debuchy, Sylva.
MANCHESTER UTD: Van der Sar, Neville, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Ronaldo (Saha 67), Carrick, Scholes (O'Shea 90), Giggs, Rooney, Larsson. Subs Not Used: Kuszczak, Brown, Park, Fletcher, Silvestre. Booked: Evra, Vidic. Goals: Giggs 83.
Referee: E Braamhaar (Holland).
