PARIS (AFP) - The French league and first division football club Metz have announced they will be taking legal action against the spectator who issued a barrage of racist abuse at Moroccan international defender Abdeslam Ouaddou this weekend.

Metz president Carlo Molinari and Frederic Thiriez, president of the league (LFP), said they would be taking legal action following the Metz/Valenciennes fixture on Saturday.

Thiriez said that the strongest possible action would be taken against the individual, so such acts were not repeated.

"In the light of such deviant behaviour, there is only one answer, it is to respond in the strongest manner possible," he told French radio.

"I do not want this type of person in our stadia.

"That means taking legal action and we will be filing a complaint along with the player against the person in question on Monday.

"In the long term it is imperative we do our utmost to ensure that we ban such individuals from the stadia for long passages of time. Such behaviour is intolerable."

The Valenciennes player was so upset at the barrage of abuse he suffered in the game with Metz that he marched into the Stade Saint-Symphorien stands at half-time and was booked.

Thiriez admitted that the behaviour of the match referee would be looked into, especially as he had the option to stop the match early.

"Referees were given precise instructions before the beginning of the season both by FIFA and UEFA over how they should react if there were incidents of racist abuse.

"They were given plenty of options, even to the extent of taking the players off.

"It (the behaviour of the referee) is precisely the question I would like to put but until we receive the referee's report I cannot make a comment or a judgement.

"It is not an easy decision to take (taking the players off or abandoning the match).

"I will wait for the referee's report and that of the league delegate who was there and the League Committee will study both of them on Thursday."

Metz won the game 2-1.