EPL

FA Cup: Mateta lands in hospital

Crystal Palace striker, Jean-Philippe Mateta, is “conscious” after being taken to hospital following a wildly reckless challenge from Millwall goalkeeper Liam Roberts just eight minutes into Saturday’s FA Cup fifth-round clash.

Palace chairman Steve Parish confirmed to the BBC at halftime that Mateta had a gash behind his ear and was at a local hospital receiving further treatment as he expressed his anger at the tackle, which saw Roberts sent off.

After the match, Palace manager Oliver Glasner said that Mateta is “conscious.”

“He’s conscious and he’s in hospital, but his ear obviously looks terrible. [It’s a] very serious injury, so of course we hope all the best for him and let’s see,” Glasner said.

Roberts rushed outside the 18-yard box and leaped to clear a long ball but his high left-footed follow-through struck Mateta in the side of the face.

Mateta remained on the ground for several minutes and needed lengthy medical treatment before he was fitted with a neck brace and carried off the field toward an ambulance.

“In all the time I’ve been watching football I don’t think I’ve ever seen a worse challenge. If you’re kicking someone in the head then you don’t know what damage may have been done,” Parish said.

Referee Michael Oliver initially did not even show Roberts a yellow card despite being only a few yards away from the incident but then brandished a straight red after being called over by VAR to review the incident on a pitchside monitor.

“They’re professionals and they have to treat each other like professionals and have a duty of care for your fellow professionals,” he said.

“That keeper has not had one [duty of care]. Credit to the players carrying on and it is difficult for me to think about anything else with JP [Mateta] in hospital.

“In all the time I’ve watched football, someone mentioned there was one like it in the World Cup in 1982.

“Why the referee [Michael Oliver] needed to go to the screen I have got no idea.”

Mateta is Palace’s leading scorer with 12 Premier League goals this season. Despite his lack of firepower up front for the remainder of the match, Palace still earned a 3-1 victory over the 10-man Millwall side.

“Maybe we are not really happy today. We can’t be really happy,” Glasner added.

“Of course, it’s a great win in going into the quarterfinals, but when you lose a player, especially with a foul like this, you have two different feelings in your stomach.”