Palace Forward Mateta Released from Hospital with 25 Stitches after Kick to the Face in FA Cup Game

Crystal Palace's Jean-Philippe Mateta is taken off on a stretcher after getting injured during the English FA Cup match between Crystal Palace and Millwall at Selhurst Park, London, England, Saturday, March 1, 2025. (AP)
Crystal Palace's Jean-Philippe Mateta is taken off on a stretcher after getting injured during the English FA Cup match between Crystal Palace and Millwall at Selhurst Park, London, England, Saturday, March 1, 2025. (AP)
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Palace Forward Mateta Released from Hospital with 25 Stitches after Kick to the Face in FA Cup Game

Crystal Palace's Jean-Philippe Mateta is taken off on a stretcher after getting injured during the English FA Cup match between Crystal Palace and Millwall at Selhurst Park, London, England, Saturday, March 1, 2025. (AP)
Crystal Palace's Jean-Philippe Mateta is taken off on a stretcher after getting injured during the English FA Cup match between Crystal Palace and Millwall at Selhurst Park, London, England, Saturday, March 1, 2025. (AP)

Crystal Palace forward Jean-Philippe Mateta needed 25 stitches on a cut to his ear after being kicked by Millwall's goalkeeper during an FA Cup game Saturday in what Palace's club chairman described as "the most reckless challenge" he'd ever seen.

Palace said Mateta was released from a hospital Saturday evening after an incident that saw the forward carried off the field on a stretcher with a neck brace. Millwall keeper Liam Roberts was sent off just eight minutes into game after he rushed outside the 18-yard box, leaped to clear a long ball and struck Mateta in the side of the face with a high left-footed follow-through.

Mateta remained on the ground and needed lengthy medical treatment before he was carried off the field toward an ambulance.

"We are very pleased to confirm that JP Mateta has this evening been discharged from St. George’s Hospital where he received specialist treatment and 25 stitches to a severe laceration to his left ear," Palace said in a statement. "All scans were clear and JP is feeling well. He will now rest and recuperate over the following days where his progress will be monitored by our club doctor."

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.

"In all the time I’ve watched football I’ve never seen a challenge like it," Palace chairman Steve Parish told the BBC during the halftime break. "That is the most reckless challenge on a football pitch I think I’ve ever seen."

Mateta is Palace's leading scorer with 12 Premier League goals this season.

He posted a message on Instagram saying he was "doing well."

"I hope to be back very soon," he wrote. "And stronger than ever."

Palace won 3-1 to reach the quarterfinals.



Lando Norris Wins, Nico Hulkenberg Makes History at British GP

McLaren driver Lando Norris of Britain celebrates winning the Formula 1 British Grand Prix at the at the Silverstone Circuit racetrack, Britain, 06 July 2025.  EPA/PETER POWELL .
McLaren driver Lando Norris of Britain celebrates winning the Formula 1 British Grand Prix at the at the Silverstone Circuit racetrack, Britain, 06 July 2025. EPA/PETER POWELL .
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Lando Norris Wins, Nico Hulkenberg Makes History at British GP

McLaren driver Lando Norris of Britain celebrates winning the Formula 1 British Grand Prix at the at the Silverstone Circuit racetrack, Britain, 06 July 2025.  EPA/PETER POWELL .
McLaren driver Lando Norris of Britain celebrates winning the Formula 1 British Grand Prix at the at the Silverstone Circuit racetrack, Britain, 06 July 2025. EPA/PETER POWELL .

McLaren's Lando Norris won his first British Grand Prix -- his home-country event -- in a race that had no shortage of twists and turns.

Beginning under dry skies that soon turned rainy at Silverstone Circuit in Northamptonshire, England, the race also saw Germany's Nico Hulkenberg finish third. For the 37-year-old Kick Sauber driver, it was his first podium in 239 Formula One starts.

And the second-place finisher, McLaren's Oscar Piastri, put himself in great position when he passed polesitter Max Verstappen of Red Bull, but that all changed when Piastri was penalized 10 seconds for coming out of a safety car restart too slowly.

And for Brit Lewis Hamilton, the defending champion, it was a fourth-place finish at his home grand prix. It marked his first finish off the podium after 12 consecutive podiums at the event, with his late push falling short, Reuters reported.

Verstappen finished fifth, falling out of the top three following a spin off the course.

Norris won in one hour, 37 minutes and 15.735 seconds, finishing 6.812 seconds ahead of his Australian McLaren teammate.

Hulkenberg held off Hamilton by just over five seconds.

As expected, two of the top three finishers were overjoyed in their post-match comments -- with one not so much.

"It is beautiful. Apart from a championship, this is as good as it gets in terms of feelings," Norris said of the win in England. "Incredible race, stressful as always but the support from the fans made the difference so I have to thank them.

"The main thing is don't it up, that is rule number one. It might never happen again. Hope it does, but these are memories I'll have forever."

Hulkenberg was equally jubilant, especially since he started 19th on the grid.
"It's been a long time coming hasn't it?! What a race, coming from virtually last. ... Crazy conditions, survival mode all race. We were really on it, no mistakes," he said.

"Today, I was in denial until the last pit stop and then I heard we gapped Lewis so I thought OK, breathing space but then he was closing. The pressure was there, intense race but we didn't crack."

Piastri declined to go into details after the penalty, which he served at a pit.
"I'm not going to say much, I'll get myself in trouble," he said. "Congrats to Nico, that's the story.

"Apparently you can't brake behind the safety car anymore. I had done it for five laps before but I'm not going to say more, I'm going to get myself in trouble. I still like Silverstone even if I don't like it today."