ROME, Italy -- UEFA has opened an investigation into the trouble surrounding Wednesday's Champions League quarterfinal first leg match between AS Roma and Manchester United, it confirmed on Thursday.
The game, which Roma won 2-1, was over-shadowed by violent clashes between police and fans at the Olympic stadium and 11 United fans were taken to hospital, the British Embassy said.
The government official responsible for public security in Rome claimed that police did not use excessive force to control crowd trouble at the match.
Achille Serra, the Prefect of Rome, told the ANSA news agency: "It did not seem to me a night of violence.
"There were incidents before and after but they were certainly not serious.
"There are stray groups of delinquents in all soccer clubs in the world and they have nothing to do with the majority of good fans," he added.
In an official statement UEFA said it was "currently gathering evidence and will be studying the official reports of the referee, delegate and security officer in detail before announcing any further action."
In England, Manchester United called on the British government to examine the incidents surrounding the trouble.
In a statement, United said: "Distressing scenes witnessed in the Stadio Olimpico last night shocked everyone at Old Trafford.
"In what the club views as a severe over-reaction, local police handed out indiscriminate beatings to United supporters.
"In these circumstances, neither Manchester United nor AS Roma is able to call the police to account.
"As a result, the club warmly welcomes the government examination of the incident and will collect witness statements from fans to submit to the Home Office."
The club has also urged supporters who attended the game and wish to provide evidence to contact them."
Trouble began inside the Olympic stadium after Roma took the lead just before halftime when rival fans traded insults and threw objects from one section of the ground to the other.
Television pictures showed Italian police flailing at United supporters with batons, leaving several of the English club's fans bleeding profusely from head wounds.
Raining blows
One policeman was shown raining blows on a supporter who lay motionless on the ground.
"The police just went in indiscriminately hitting anyone and everybody, it didn't matter whether they were old people, young people, men, women, whatever they just hit everyone," United fan Mick Thorne told Reuters TV.
The British Embassy said more than 11 fans were injured, with local media putting the number at 18. Italian police could not confirm the number injured, pending their own investigation.
"It was pretty violent, all the English fans were targeted, none of the Italian people were hit by the police because they were the other side of the fence," said United fan Tommy Taylor.
One United supporters' club said it would complain to UEFA and asked fans for eyewitness accounts of the clashes.
"The Italian police were stationed on our side of the fence, in attack formation against United fans, in a way that only made sense if they were trying to protect the Roma fans from us," the Independent Manchester United Supporters' Association said on its Web site (www.imusa.org).
"There is something very wrong here and IMUSA aims to get to the bottom of it."
United warned fans before the match that they might be attacked in Rome, prompting a rebuke from the city's mayor Walter Veltroni and Roma coach Luciano Spalletti.
The game, which Roma won 2-1, was over-shadowed by violent clashes between police and fans at the Olympic stadium and 11 United fans were taken to hospital, the British Embassy said.
The government official responsible for public security in Rome claimed that police did not use excessive force to control crowd trouble at the match.
Achille Serra, the Prefect of Rome, told the ANSA news agency: "It did not seem to me a night of violence.
"There were incidents before and after but they were certainly not serious.
"There are stray groups of delinquents in all soccer clubs in the world and they have nothing to do with the majority of good fans," he added.
In an official statement UEFA said it was "currently gathering evidence and will be studying the official reports of the referee, delegate and security officer in detail before announcing any further action."
In England, Manchester United called on the British government to examine the incidents surrounding the trouble.
In a statement, United said: "Distressing scenes witnessed in the Stadio Olimpico last night shocked everyone at Old Trafford.
"In what the club views as a severe over-reaction, local police handed out indiscriminate beatings to United supporters.
"In these circumstances, neither Manchester United nor AS Roma is able to call the police to account.
"As a result, the club warmly welcomes the government examination of the incident and will collect witness statements from fans to submit to the Home Office."
The club has also urged supporters who attended the game and wish to provide evidence to contact them."
Trouble began inside the Olympic stadium after Roma took the lead just before halftime when rival fans traded insults and threw objects from one section of the ground to the other.
Television pictures showed Italian police flailing at United supporters with batons, leaving several of the English club's fans bleeding profusely from head wounds.
Raining blows
One policeman was shown raining blows on a supporter who lay motionless on the ground.
"The police just went in indiscriminately hitting anyone and everybody, it didn't matter whether they were old people, young people, men, women, whatever they just hit everyone," United fan Mick Thorne told Reuters TV.
The British Embassy said more than 11 fans were injured, with local media putting the number at 18. Italian police could not confirm the number injured, pending their own investigation.
"It was pretty violent, all the English fans were targeted, none of the Italian people were hit by the police because they were the other side of the fence," said United fan Tommy Taylor.
One United supporters' club said it would complain to UEFA and asked fans for eyewitness accounts of the clashes.
"The Italian police were stationed on our side of the fence, in attack formation against United fans, in a way that only made sense if they were trying to protect the Roma fans from us," the Independent Manchester United Supporters' Association said on its Web site (www.imusa.org).
"There is something very wrong here and IMUSA aims to get to the bottom of it."
United warned fans before the match that they might be attacked in Rome, prompting a rebuke from the city's mayor Walter Veltroni and Roma coach Luciano Spalletti.
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