A Premier League star is conscious in hospital with a head injury after a head-high foul in an FA Cup tie that his club’s chairman called “the most reckless” challenge he had ever seen.
Crystal Palace co-owner Steve Parish said Jean-Philippe Mateta has a “bad gash behind his ear and a head injury so far as we know” after Millwall goalkeeper Liam Roberts kicked him in the head as they battled for the ball early in the lunchtime fifth-round match at Selhurst Park.
French forward Mateta, 27, received 10 minutes of medical attention after the foul but could not continue and was stretchered off wearing a neck brace before being taken straight to hospital.
Mateta is “conscious”, Palace manager Oliver Glasner said after the game and videos posted to social media showed him making a clenched fist gesture towards Palace fans as he was taken away.
Referee Michael Oliver initially took no action, but after checking the pitchside monitor, he sent off Roberts, 30.
Roberts “needs to have a long hard look at himself because he’s endangering a fellow professional with a challenge like that”, Parish told the BBC at half-time in the FA Cup fifth round tie between the south London rivals.
Noting Roberts’ age, he said it was “the most reckless challenge on a football pitch I think I’ve ever seen.
FA Cup: ‘Hapless’ FA criticised by lower-league clubs for scrapping potential money-spinning replays
West Brom v Wolves: Officers injured and arrests made after ‘completely unacceptable’ violence at FA Cup tie
Gary Lineker criticised for calling top flight of Welsh football a ‘farmer’s league’
“There’s a lot of emotion but we need to talk about that challenge. In all the time I’ve watched football I’ve never seen a challenge like it.
“And why the referee needs to go to the screen, I have no idea… If you’re kicking him in the head at full force, who knows what kind of damage could be done.”
Many were reminded of a notorious foul by West Germany ‘keeper Harald Schumacher on France defender Patrick Battiston in the 1982 World Cup semi-final.
Battiston was concussed and lost three teeth after the head-high challenge, while Schumacher escaped punishment.
Glasner told BBC Sport Mateta’s ear “looks terrible”, calling it a “very serious injury”.
Asked about the victory which puts the Eagles into the quarter-finals, he said the injury meant he “can’t be really happy… when you lose a player with a foul like this, you have two different feelings in your stomach”.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
He said he was sure Roberts “didn’t want to injure JP [Mateta]”, but “if you go [to] 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 him, but it’s a terrible foul”.
Both Glasner and Parish passed on their best wishes to Mateta.
Read more on Sky News:
Who’s up for what at the BRITs?
Zelenskyy ‘truly thankful’ to US
Pope ‘not out of danger’
Millwall boss Alex Neil told BBC Sport he didn’t “think there’s any intent” in Roberts’ challenge.
“I certainly wouldn’t label it as the worst challenge I’ve seen. We don’t want the lad to be injured so naturally, we wish Mateta well and hope he’s back on the pitch soon,” he said.
Be the first to get Breaking News
Install the Sky News app for free
“For me, it’s mistimed, he’s been sent off, he’s disappointed,” Neil added. “We wish Mateta well and it’s nothing more than that for me.”
Neil admitted he had not watched video of the challenge.
Sky News has contacted Millwall for comment.
