Thierry Henry: On top form (BenRadford/GettyImages)

Referee Lubos Michel was seen collecting various objects, understood to include coins and lighters, which were apparently hurled towards the France star, who had the last laugh by scoring two late goals in his side's magnificent 4-0 Champions League victory.

Gunners manager Arsene Wenger reacted furiously: 'That sort of behaviour is terrible and it should be banned. I think that UEFA will react,' he told BBC Radio.

'We did not feel under threat but there are always some crazy people in every crowd. It's up to UEFA to react and we have full confidence in them to do that.'

UEFA communications director Mike Lee today said an investigation would be undertaken regardless of the referee's report, which is expected on Thursday.

'We`re going to investigate it,' he told BBC Radio. 'I spoke to the venue director last night and he said there was evidence of racist abuse which we obviously totally condemn.

'Once we`ve completed the investigation, if the evidence is there - and we believe it is - then this will be referred to our disciplinary body.

'It is Eindhoven's second offence so we have to look at it very seriously.'

Everyone in football has a responsibility here. The national football associations, the clubs, the fans, the police.'

PSV were handed a one-match ban from playing at home in 2001 following crowd trouble during their UEFA Cup quarter-final match against Kaiserslautern.

The ugly scenes could have blighted a watershed evening for the English double winners, who scored the fastest goal in Champions League history - timed at 20.07 seconds - through Gilberto Silva in their first win on foriegn soil in two seasons.

Henry said: 'They were throwing coins, lighters and other stuff. I don't know whether you heard what they were saying or saw what they were doing.

'I don't want to talk about it as I just want to talk about football, but it's a bit of a shame.

'Obviously I have two ears but you didn't see me shout back. The referee was doing his business and I was just waiting to take the corner-kicks.

'If UEFA do their business, they will do their business. But we don't want to forget that our team have done a great performance.'

Meanwhile, defender Martin Keown is likely to be out of action for two to three weeks after pulling a hamstring in the first half last night.

Another plus-point for the Gunners, however, was the assured performance of replacement Pascal Cygan.

Henry paid tribute to the 28-year-old, £2.1m signing from Lille: 'It is not easy to come into a game like that when it is only 1-0. It is the first time he has come on that early. But you have to give him a lot of credit for the way he handled it, replacing a big character like Martin.

'He stayed calm, was heading the ball on to the midfielders like Patrick Vieira. He was controlling the ball and never panicking. There is still a long way for him to go, but he has shown his quality against PSV.'