Crystal Palace boss issues “very serious” Mateta injury update following “terrible foul” | OneFootball

Crystal Palace manager says Jean-Philippe Mateta suffered a “very serious” head injury after being on the end of a horror challenge from Millwall goalkeeper Liam Roberts in the FA Cup.

Mateta was taken to hospital after Roberts kicked the French forward in the head in an attempt to win the ball in the air. The 27-year-old received oxygen on the pitch before being stretchered off the Selhurst Park pitch and replaced by Eddie Nketiah.

Roberts was sent off by referee Michael Oliver following a VAR review as Palace went on to beat ten-man Millwall and book their place in the quarter-finals.

Crystal Palace boss issues “serious” Mateta injury update

After the final whistle Glasner said that Mateta is awake, but has suffered a “terrible” injury to his ear. The German felt that, while Roberts’ foul was unintentional, it was unacceptably dangerous.

“He is conscious and he is in hospital,” he told BBC Sport. “His ear looks terrible. It’s a very serious injury so we hope all the best for him.

“We are not really happy, we can’t be really happy. Of course, it’s a great win and into the quarter-finals but when you lose a player, especially with a foul like this, you have two different feelings in your stomach.

“Honestly, I didn’t want to see it, I just watched it and it is terrible. I’m sure the goalkeeper didn’t want to injure JP in this situation, no player wants this. But if you got to the ball with this intensity, with the foot at that height, you can’t do it because it’s so dangerous and we all have responsibilities for our health. I don’t want to blame him but it is a terrible foul.

Read – Crystal Palace star Mateta hospitalised by horror challenge

“I didn’t see it like it was in the game, it was so quick, I could see the keeper had a lot of intensity, but he touched the ball first. But I could see it now in slow motion and it’s worse.”

The Palace players overcame the shock of the grisly injury to Mateta to take a two-nil lead thanks to a Japhet Tanganga own goal and a finish from Daniel Munoz.

Full-back Wes Harding got one back for Millwall in the 14th minute of first-half added time, but Nketiah restored their two-goal advantage with ten minutes remaining to see the Eagles through to the next round.

“The players did well until 55th minute in the first half,” Glasner said. “We controlled the game and the lead was 2-0 and we gave them unnecessarily the ball before half time and then all of a sudden it’s 1-2. They got back their belief. Second half wasn’t the best half, didn’t create a lot of chances but Eddie decided the game – an amazing header.

“Now after watching, it is tough to talk about game because I have this clip [of the challenge on Mateta] in my mind.

“Going to the quarter-finals in the FA Cup, great achievement. Fingers crossed and hoping all the best for JP.”

Asked if Palace can go all the way and win the FA Cup, Glasner responded: “It’s winning the quarter-final. Lets see, the draw is tomorrow, let’s see what team we will face. At the moment we are just waiting good news for JP. Hopefully he is back then.”

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