UEFA are to investigate claims of racist abuse by Valencia fans against Arsenal players during last night's Champions League clash.
The Arsenal team were incensed by the abuse from a section of the crowd and afterwards Patrick Vieira even accused European football's governing body of "hypocrisy" for failing to punish offending clubs severely.
UEFA communications director Mike Lee today defended the organisation's record on tackling racism in football and disciplinary chiefs will now study video footage and match officials' reports from the game.
Lee said: "We will be receiving official reports from the game and those will need to be looked at.
"If the matter is to be taken further then it is very important that there is an official complaint from the club and players involved.
"Patrick is entitled to his view but I think the criticism of UEFA is unjustified. The fact is that penalties have been much harsher than Patrick has suggested and one forthcoming Euro 2004 qualifying game will be played behind closed doors with no fans present as a punishment for racism."
Vieira had claimed culprits escaped with a £3,000 fine but Lee pointed to the fact that UEFA had twice successfully appealed against their own disciplinary panel to increase the penalties for racism.
As a result, Slovakia were ordered to play a match behind closed doors and PSV had a fine increased after a section of their fans racially-abused Arsenal players - though the Dutch club are taking UEFA to court over the matter.
This month, UEFA also organised a conference against racism in football involving representatives from all member associations.
Vieira said after the 2-1 defeat: "John Carew has apologised to me for the behaviour of the fans.
"But UEFA are hypocrites - they keep saying they will do something about it but all they are doing is fining clubs £2,000-3,000 and nothing really happens.
"It is just words. I don't think anything will be done about it - it will never change. We have to deal with it and we've come to expect it.
"We were expecting it in Valencia because it happens anywhere. It is not the first time that we received it and it is not going to be the last."
Carew himself told the London Evening Standard: "Patrick was very angry about what happened - and I was angry too.
"I said sorry to him for it and also to Thierry. I am good friends with them both and I felt bad for them. The problem is what can I do? I am just as frustrated about it as them."