Valenciennes captain Abdeslam Ouaddou has filed a legal complaint after being racially abused by a spectator during the 2-1 Ligue 1 defeat at Metz.

A furious Ouaddou walked towards the stands at half-time to remonstrate with a Metz fan who had repeatedly insulted him, Valenciennes said. He was forced back to the pitch by stewards and received a yellow card.

The Morocco centre back filed a complaint immediately after the match.

"The club supports Abdes in this ordeal," a club 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," former Fulham and Rennes defender Ouaddou said 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."

Bottom club Metz said they had also filed a complaint and the French League 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.

"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 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.

Ouaddou joined Valenciennes in January after a short, ill-fated spell at Olympiacos in Greece.

Reuters