Crystal Palace through after Millwall keeper’s red for head-high tackle on Mateta
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Crystal Palace progressed to the quarter-finals of the FA Cup at a sun-kissed, slightly distracted Selhust Park. A win against opponents who played with 10 men for 85 minutes was comfortable enough. Sadly, this south London derby will be remembered instead for a single outstanding act of violence.

It took place inside the stadium, and in front of the watching millions, as Liam Roberts launched an adrenal, wildly dangerous flying challenge into the head of Jean-Philippe Mateta with five minutes gone. In the process, Roberts killed his own continued participation in the game, plus a large portion of the BBC live broadcast, and could conceivably have done the same to Mateta.

“It is the most reckless challenge on a football pitch I think I’ve ever seen,” said the Palace chairman, Steve Parish, at half-time, going on to talk about the possibility of actually killing a fellow professional.

It was certainly up there, with shades of Harald Schumacher at the 1982 World Cup. That was, Schumacher admitted, a deliberate assault designed to stop Patrick Battiston scoring. This one was not premeditated, but it was seriously reckless. Given the force, the point of contact and the level of danger, it was as bad as these things are likely to get. Mateta was taken to hospital with a gashed head.

Millwall were allocated 3,781 tickets for this six-mile trip down the south London train tracks. The away end was duly packed out and ringed, sternly, by a gaggle of widely jeered Metropolitan police.

The opening moments saw Millwall dally vaguely down the Palace left and then Roberts ran out towards a bouncing forward pass and kicked Mateta in the head. In reality it was less a kick, more an assault, left foot launched martial-arts style into Mateta’s face.




In the moment it looked not just like a red, but two reds, maybe three. Michael Oliver took the easy route, waiting for the VAR. He was duly sent to his monitor. It was a horrendous challenge and utterly brainless given the pre-match talk from his manager about keeping their heads and being aware of VAR, which is not in use in the Championship.

“You have to keep in mind there are certain things you might not be able to do,” Japhet Tanganga had warned. Hmm. About that. How are we fixed for assault?

Mateta left the pitch on a stretcher. Eddie Nketiah came on. Lukas Jensen replaced Roberts. The game restarted with an empty feeling around the ground.

Oliver Glasner had picked a near full-strength Palace team, with a high-class attacking unit in Eze-Mateta-Sarr. Josh Coburn started up front for Millwall. Behind him was the Dutch-Algerian winger Camiel Neghli.

So much for planning. A man down, Millwall sank back into a low block. Palace had all of the ball and all of the grass, generating a series of close-range scuffles and last-line wrestling matches. They were sharp down the right where Ismaïla Sarr and Daniel Muñoz stayed wide to stretch depleted opponents.

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Eddie Nketiah sealed the win with a header for the third Crystal Palace goal. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Observer
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