Andre Villas-Boas backs Uefa to deal with racism issues which overshadowed Tottenham's Europa League draw with Lazio

Andre Villas-Boas is happy to leave Uefa in charge of any potential sanction against Lazio after the Italian club's supporters allegedly aimed monkey chants at three Tottenham players during last night's Europa League stalemate between the two sides.

Jermain Defoe, Aaron Lennon and Andros Townsend all appeared to be the subject of racist taunts from the visiting fans during the 0-0 draw at White Hart Lane.

Uefa, whose president Michel Platini was at the game, are aware of reports of monkey chanting and may decide today to open disciplinary proceedings against the Italian giants.

Villas-Boas did not hear the chants and is therefore happy to leave European football's governing body to decide on whether any action is appropriate.

"I think (Uefa will act if the accusations are proven)," Villas-Boas said in his post-match press conference.

"Uefa is very active on this kind of situation and our overall objective is to kick racism out of football.

"I can't point the finger at anyone in any way shape or form tonight because I didn't hear anything. It's for the authorities to follow up in any kind of investigation."

The anti-racism group FARE posted a link on their Twitter feed giving Spurs fans the chance to report any chants they heard from the away end and Uefa have fined clubs in the past for racist incidents.

Tottenham also operate a strict zero tolerance policy when it comes to racism.

Away from the racism debate, Villas-Boas left White Hart Lane with mixed emotions last night.

The 34-year-old was happy with his team's confident and fluent display but was unhappy with the performance of referee Ovidiu Alin Hategan, who ruled out three Tottenham goals, two of which looked perfectly legal.

In the first half Clint Dempsey's diving header was ruled out for offside even though he looked level and after the interval Steven Caulker was denied his first Spurs goal for supposedly climbing on Stefano Mauri's back before heading in a cross.

"We managed to put the ball in the net three times today but unfortunately because of mistakes from the ref we couldn't get the goals we certainly deserved," said the Portuguese, who also saw a Gareth Bale effort ruled out for offside.

"Mauri is one of the strongest Lazio players in the air and Caulker beat him in the air and scored a legal goal so we don't see anything (wrong).

"That situation disappoints us."

Spurs now head to Panathinaikos for their second fixture while Lazio host Slovenian side Maribor.

Vladimir Petkovic, whose side struck the bar in the first half through Alvaro Gonzalez, was happy to leave London with a point.

"At times we did find ourselves under pressure but we also put pressure on Tottenham too," the Bosnian said.

"We created a couple of chances but I think 0-0 was a fair result."

PA