Lille 0 Manchester United 1: Ferguson fury after Lille threaten to walk off over Giggs' telling trick

Sir Alex Ferguson last night condemned the extraordinary behaviour of Lille after Manchester United's opponents threatened to force an abandonment of this Champions League knock-out tie by leaving the pitch.

With seven minutes left Ryan Giggs had broken the deadlock with a quickly taken free-kick, curling the ball inside the far post as goalkeeper Tony Sylva lined up his wall. Sylva was booked amid passionate protests by Lille. When they eventually resumed the ball was thumped straight into touch from the kick-off and the players began leaving the pitch with Lille's goalkeeping coach, Jean-Noel Duse, waving them off.

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The match officials, Ferguson, Gary Neville, Louis Saha and Patrice Evra all became involved before the match resumed. By then the home crowd, already inflamed by a disallowed goal for their side, were furious. Missiles rained down in the closing minutes, hitting both Neville and the United bench. Incredibly, as he left the pitch Neville also appeared to be struck by an object thrown from the Lille dug-out.

"I've never seen anything like that in football," said Ferguson. "I don't understand it. It was disgraceful. It led to intimidation of the referee by the fans. They created a hostile atmosphere. Uefa have got to do something. I've seen a lot of bad behaviour in football as it is emotional but I've not seen that situation before."

Claude Puel, Lille's coach, insisted the players did not intend to leave the pitch, arguing the practice in France is to make any protest at the next break in play, and again after the game. Of Ferguson's comments Puel, who played under Arsène Wenger for several years at Monaco, said: "I don't understand why he is talking about it but we've heard this before from Alex Ferguson. He likes to influence referees, he enjoys trying to create a row. I would rather talk about the football."

As last season, when Lille knocked United out in Paris, the two coaches did not shake hands. A frosty atmosphere can be expected at the second leg in Manchester in a fortnight.

Before then Uefa will inevitably hold an inquiry into the incident. Had Lille's players refused to carry on the club would have been thrown out of the competition. As it is, a fine is likely.

Uefa will also investigate crowd problems at the United end which marred the opening stages. It appears United fans with tickets for the home sections were allowed to join the rest of the travelling support, resulting in overcrowding on the lower tier behind the goal United defended in the first half. When fans tried to open a gate in the fencing to alleviate the pressure stewards, then baton-wielding riot police, sought to close it. The atmosphere quickly became highly confrontational, on both sides of the fence, and police spayed tear gas into the faces of fans to quell them. Several United fans appeared to suffer injury, with a woman taken to hospital and Edwin van der Sar, United's keeper, experienced double vision as the gas drifted across his goal.

The irony is that the match was being played in Lens to forestall such incidents, Lille's own stadium being inadequate for European football. The Stade Felix Bollaert is a relatively modern venue having been revamped for the 1998 World Cup -David Beckham and Robbie Earle, for Jamaica, were among those who scored here.

A wet winter, however, had produced a pancake of a pitch, appropriately enough on Shrove Tuesday. Though rolled flat on top, it was treacherously soft underneath. The opening period was thus very quiet, with neither side prepared to take risks.

It was not until the 41st minute a goalkeeper was tested. Then Wayne Rooney turned tightly in the box before driving in a low cross that Sylva failed to hold. Henrik Larsson and Giggs both tried to capitalise but had their shots blocked.

The second period proved a completely different affair, with a constant stream of chances at both ends. In the 51st minute Rooney broke clear and drew Sylva but Giggs was just unable to touch in his chipped cross. Then Cristiano Ronaldo was sent through. Sylva stood up well and blocked his shot, but the Senegalese keeper looked stranded as Ronaldo pulled the loose ball back for Rooney. The England striker, without a Champions League goal since the hat-trick he scored on his competition debut in 2004, blazed his shot high into t he stands.

Lille's response was impressive. Mathieu Bodmer slipped between the central defence only to draw an excellent reaction save from Van der Sar with his left leg and Rio Ferdinand blocked a goal-bound drive from Jean Makoun. Then Peter Odemwingie thought he had scored, glancing in Gregory Tafforeau's superb left-wing cross but the referee Eric Braamhaar spotted a push on United's centre-half Nemanja Vidic.

Ferguson brought on Louis Saha for Ronaldo, who had been disappointing - "he looked tired", said Ferguson. Rooney moved to the right. The switch was almost an instant success. Giggs dummied Patrice Evra's cross allowing the ball to run to Saha, unmarked and 10 yards out, but he scuffed his shot.

The match remained open, with Odemwingie clipping a shot just wide, then Larsson chipping narrowly over after Sylva spilt Rooney's cross. Finally United won a free-kick on the edge of the area.

"Ryan asked the referee if he could take it quickly," said Ferguson. "If the referee gives permission it is allowed. It happened in England when Thierry Henry scored against Chelsea." Puel countered, erroneously: "The rules are very clear. It is a yellow card for the taker, once, in France, a red."

The walk-off followed. As players and officials jostled on the touchline, Ferguson even argued with Neville. "I told Gary to stay on the pitch. He was trying to be peacemaker but it was not our problem. We should just have taken a throw-in and tried to score a second goal."

Had they done so, all hell would have broken loose, though one can understand why Ferguson would have liked a second goal. Lille showed enough to suggest there is life in this tie yet. The Frenchmen will certainly not lack for motivation.

Lille (4-2-3-1): Sylva; Chalme, Plestan, Tavlaridis, Tafforeau; Bodmer, Makoun; Debuchy, Fauvergue (Cabaye, 57), Obraniak (Bastos, 90); Odemwingie (Audel, 75). Substitutes not used: Malicki (gk), Rafael, Lichtsteiner, Mirallas.

Manchester United (4-4-1-1): Van der Sar; Neville, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra; Ronaldo (Saha, 67), Carrick, Scholes (O'Shea, 90), Giggs; Rooney; Larsson. Substitutes not used: Kuszczak (gk), Brown, Park, Fletcher, Silvestre.

Referee: E Braamhaar (Netherlands).

Whistle-blowers: Football's other stoppages and walkouts

France v Kuwait, 1982

France were 3-1 up in a World Cup tie in Spain when Alan Giresse added a fourth goal. The Kuwaitis stopped playing leading up to the goal because they heard someone in the crowd blow a whistle. The players walked off the field, returning when the Soviet referee, Miroslav Stupar, disallowed the goal. The French went on to win4-1.

Estonia v Scotland, 1996

In a World Cup qualifier in Tallinn the Scots took the field a couple of minutes before kick-off, in a game brought forward by nearly four hours by Fifa because of below-standard floodlights, only to find there was no sign of their opponents. Scotland kicked off and seconds later the referee blew the whistle to signal the end of match. The game was replayed in Monaco, ending in a 0-0 draw.

Preston North End v Birmingham, 2001

A play-off semi-final second leg at Deepdale finished 2-2 after extra time and went to penalties. The referee decided they should be taken at the Shankly Kop end, filled with Preston fans, rather than the open end. The Birmingham manager, Trevor Francis, initially refused to let his players take part before his side were beaten 4-2 in the shoot-out.