United officials watched in shock as their 4,000-strong travelling support was attacked by riot police in the aftermath of Taddei's opening goal in AS Roma's 2-1 Champions League win.

And, in backing an official government examination into the violent scenes, they have blasted the treatment of their fans by police in the strongest terms possible.

"The disturbing scenes witnessed in the Stadio Olimpico last night shocked everyone at Old Trafford," said a club statement.

"In what the club views as a serious over-reaction, local police handed out indiscriminate beatings to United supporters.

"In those 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 incidents and will collect witness statements from fans to submit to the Home Office.

"Supporters who attended the game and wish to submit their evidence should either write to: Roma Inquiry, Manchester United FC, Sir Matt Busby Way, Manchester, M14 0RA or e-mail roma@manutd.co.uk"

The Home Office have confirmed they will gather information from all relevant sources before deciding whether to approach UEFA about their concerns.

Under Italian law, the local police force are responsible for safety within their major stadiums and given it is only two months since an officer was killed at the Sicilian derby between Catania and Palermo, their heavy-handedness is perhaps understandable.

However, it is the one-sided nature of the confrontation which raised eyebrows.

While the Roma supporters were able to hurl missiles into the visiting section of the stadium and charge towards the perspex barrier following Taddei's goal with impunity, United fans doing exactly the same thing in response were met with extreme force.

One female fan has accused Italian police of snatching her digital camera to prevent her filming the scenes of brutality.

Carly Lyes, a 23-year-old Red Devils supporter from Rusholme, needed medical treatment for a wrist injury sustained as police seized her camera as she was filming an eye-witness account of the trouble.

She claims police were continuing to strike supporters with batons even after they were on the ground covered in blood. And one fan was also struck despite apparently being unconcious.

"The police clearly did not want me to film what they were doing," said Lyes.

"It was awful. Even when I was getting treatment for my injuries supporters were still getting hit on the concourse below.

"One fan had blood pouring from his head and another was unconcious but the police kept on wading in.

"I was screaming and shouting for them to stop, but they just ignored me. There weren't saying anything, just lashing out in all directions.

"You can tell how rough the police were by the injury I suffered trying to keep hold of my camera. Their tactics were just disgusting."

BBC journalist Joel Taggart accused police of "taking out" supporters indiscriminately inside the ground.

He said three other fans he talked to entering the ground said they had been ambushed by Roma 'ultra' fans, one of them being hit with a miniature baton.

Taggart said the clashes with police happened after Roma scored their first goal and their fans started to taunt United fans on the other side of a perspex partition.

He revealed: "I can only assume that the police felt there was a chance they were going to force their way through the fence.

"They just stormed down the stairwell on the United side of the fence knocking people over, basically trying to get in between the two sides."

This then "provoked a response" among the United fans, Taggart said.

"There was then 10 or 15 minutes of the police trying to regain ground and they just indiscriminately took out anybody who was in their way," he said.

"It was good fortune that we weren't in that particular area of the ground - we saw women being beaten out of the way, there were men, children - whoever was there was knocked out of the way."

He said some United fans then started fighting with the police - some throwing chairs - leading to about 10 minutes of sustained clashes.

Taggart said missiles had also been thrown by both sets of fans during the game, and the whole incident had been very frightening.

"It was so indiscriminate, I think that was the most frightening thing," he said.

"It sort of edged closer and closer towards you and you feared even a crush situation because the people who started the game standing in the stairwells, standing in the aisles, had absolutely nowhere to go."

Former referee Anders Frisk added: "The approach from the Italian police - my feeling was that they were very close to the United supporters.

"What caused it was something that had been thrown. The Italian police reacted very, very aggressively towards one or two incidents,

"This is what caused everything to catch fire."