LONDON (Reuters) – Crystal Palace suffered a big blow as forward Jean-Philippe Mateta was taken to hospital with a head injury after a rash challenge by Millwall goalkeeper Liam Roberts during their FA Cup fifth-round clash at Selhurst Park on Saturday.
Premier League Palace won 3-1 to secure a quarter-final spot but their progress was marred by Mateta’s injury.
Palace chairman Steve Parish described Roberts’s challenge on the 27-year-old Frenchman as the most reckless he had ever seen and said Mateta’s ear was badly gashed.
Mateta was chasing a long pass towards Millwall’s goal in the seventh minute when Roberts came rushing out and attempted to clear the bouncing ball but was high and wild and clattered the Palace player, kicking him on the side of the head.
After a VAR check, Roberts was shown a red card while Mateta received several minutes of attention on the pitch and was given oxygen before being taken to an ambulance and on to hospital, suffering from concussion.
Mateta has been in superb form for Palace, with 15 goals from 33 appearances in all competitions this season.
After the game Palace manager Oliver Glasner offered an update on Mateta’s condition.
“He’s at hospital now and has a serious ear injury,” he said. “I think he will definitely miss the Ipswich game (on March 8), but I still hope that he’s available for the quarter-finals of the FA Cup at the end of March, so four weeks’ time.
“If you go for the ball like this with the intensity in the head, you just can’t do it because it’s so dangerous. I don’t want to blame (the keeper), but it’s a terrible foul.
“He’s at the hospital and I heard he’s conscious …” Glasner said.
Mateta later posted on X, that he was “doing well” and hoped to be “back very soon and stronger than ever.”
At halftime, Parish told the BBC: “He’s at the hospital, so we hope for the best. I mean there’s a lot of emotion in football but we need to talk about that challenge. In all the time I’ve watched football, I’ve never seen a challenge like it.
“It is the most reckless challenge on a football pitch I think I’ve ever seen.
“(Roberts) needs to have a long, hard look at himself because he’s endangering a fellow professional with a challenge like that. If you’re kicking him in the head at full force, who knows what kind of damage could be done.”
Later, Parish was in a more forgiving mood.
“You’ve got to assume the kid doesn’t mean it. I think he’s het up. There’s a lot of pressure and he hasn’t played for them that much. I’m sure he’ll want to apologise and I heard he’s very upset himself,” he said.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Ken Ferris)
