As early as the first 10 minutes Ouaddou was a distressed man. As he tried to marshal his side, a Metz supporter barracked him with racist and xenophobic remarks. At first, he ignored them, but as the first half wore on he alerted referee Damien Ledentu to what was happening. "He told me to concentrate on my game and to leave him alone," the 29-year-old recalls. "I was captain and I felt I had to do something about it. It was unbelievable hearing those insults. I felt the game needed to be stopped."

But it wasn't. And the insults didn't stop either. As Ledentu blew for the end of the first half, Ouaddou was enraged. He clambered into the stand where the offending Metz supporter was housed and remonstrated with the man. After other Metz supporters had calmed Ouaddou, he trudged back to the tunnel, to be greeted by a yellow card for unsporting behaviour.

"I couldn't believe I was booked," he says. "Inside the tunnel I told the referee what was happening. He wouldn't listen. He had a problem, it would have been hard to stop the match. I understand that, but these things shouldn't happen on a football pitch. We are entertainers, we are on a pitch to please people, not to be abused in that way. It is the worst experience for me in football. It is very hard, mentally, to cope with such a thing. I think it must be a player's worst nightmare."

The fall-out to the incident was huge. Ledentu came out and claimed that Ouaddou "never told him" about the insults. "Ledentu lied," Ouaddou says. "I told him on the pitch and in the stand. French television even showed pictures of me telling him. I couldn't understand why he had to say this."

Ledentu hasn't refereed a match since and the Metz fan was arrested by police. He later apologised to Ouaddou, but the Nancy defender filed a case against him. In May, the man, known as Christophe H, was given a three-month suspended jail sentence and a three-year ban from all matches. Sporting icons all across France were quick to react, with UEFA President Michel Platini and sports minister Bernard Laporte jumping to the defence of Ouaddou and calling for tougher rules on racism.

For Ouaddou, the incident lingers, but he is now happy to concentrate on football.

He rejoined Nancy in the summer, returning to the area he moved to from Morocco when he was two and bringing his career full circle. Capped 46 times for his country and currently captain, he left Nancy in 2001 to join Fulham, where he was part of a side that won many plaudits. He moved back to France to play for Rennes in 2003, before trying his luck with Olympiakos in 2006 and then Valenciennes. "Being at Fulham was one of the best experiences of my life," he says. "I played with some wonderful players, Louis Saha and John Collins in particular."

He rates Collins, in fact, as one of his closest friends, and revealed that he could have joined Hibs when the Scot was in charge. "In January 2007, I was a free agent. I had gone from Rennes to Olympiakos but my family hadn't settled in Greece, and the chairman released me from my contract. I was always very close with John from Fulham and I used to talk to him regularly on the phone. I wanted to move back to France but if no club was to come in for me, John said he would want me at Hibs. There was never an official offer, but we spoke about me coming to Edinburgh. In the end I was offered a contract at Valenciennes and I decided to come back to France."

Ouaddou was a stand-out in the year and a half he spent under former Aberdeen defender Antoine Kombuoare – "one of the best managers I've ever worked with" – which led to a clutch of clubs chasing his services this summer. "There was other interest but I wanted to come to Nancy. They offered me a four-year-deal, a big opportunity to play with my home club, and the chance to play in Europe."

His first opponents on that front will be Motherwell, who Nancy play in the Stade Marcel Picot on Thursday evening. The Lorraine club, who finished fourth last season and were top of Ligue 1 for the first half of it, have not started this campaign well, recording only one victory before last night's match away at Auxerre.

Ouaddou admits he doesn't know a great deal about Motherwell. "They will be difficult though, that I am sure of. They will be a physical team but one that will take the game to us, attack us when they can. They will put us under pressure and play with passion, and they will be compact at the back. I know they sold their best attacker to Cardiff (Ross McCormack] but I'm sure they will be very hard to beat. We know we must win here in Nancy because it will be hard to win in Scotland. It will be a challenge but I love challenges. That is what I have wanted in my whole career."

And as he has shown, Ouaddou has never shirked a challenge.


AS NANCY-LORRAINE

HISTORY
Football Club de Nancy folded in 1965 and two years after their demise, AS Nancy-Lorraine were founded.

HOME GROUND
Nancy lost just one home game last season at their Stade Marcel Picot (capacity 20,085). However, they won only won two away games in the league.

KEY PLAYER
Chris Malonga was a revelation during his debut season in the French league last year. The Congolese international scored five times from midfield.

TOP SCORER
Youssouf Hadji, brother of former Aston Villa striker Mustapha, was the club's top scorer in the league last season with seven goals from 25 appearances.

LAST SEASON
Nancy finished fourth in the French top division, accumulating 60 points from 15 wins, 15 draws and eight losses. They only finished two points off third place and a Champions League place.

THIS SEASON
Before last night's game away at Auxerre, Nancy lay 12th in Ligue 1 having won one, lost one and drawn two of their opening four games.

SCOTTISH CONNECTION
Striker Ray Stephen was transferred from Dundee to Nancy in the early 1980s for £175,000.