Crystal Palace boss Oliver Glasner has revealed that Jean-Philippe Mateta has a ‘very serious’ injury after a sickening incident vs Millwall.
The French striker was withdrawn just eight minutes into his side’s FA Cup clash against the Lions on Saturday. It came after a shocking head-high challenge from Millwall goalkeeper Liam Roberts.
The shot-stopper was consequently sent off after a VAR review, while Mateta received treatment and oxygen on the pitch and was transferred to hospital. And Palace boss Glasner has now offered an update, while slamming the actions of the Millwall man.
Speaking after his side’s 3-1 win, he said: "He is conscious and he is in hospital. 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 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.
"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."
Glasner’s comments come after Palace chairman Steve Parish had shared his disgust, claiming Mateta could have been killed by the challenge. He said: “So so far what we know is he’s got a bad gash behind his ear and a head injury.
“Obviously 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 been in football, I’ve never seen a challenge like it. I look to see how old the keeper was and he’s 30 years old. That is the most reckless challenge on a football pitch I’ve ever seen and he needs to have a long, hard look at himself that lad because he’s endangering a fellow player, maybe even his life with a challenge like that.
"It’s very difficult for me to talk about the rest of the game because we’re worried about JP and it’s just a terrible, terrible challenge.”
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