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Crystal Palace’s Mateta Hospitalised After ‘Reckless’ Challenge

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Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish branded the challenge by Millwall goalkeeper Liam Roberts that left Jean Philippe-Mateta in hospital as “the most reckless” he has ever seen.

Roberts was sent-off just eight minutes into Saturday’s FA Cup fifth round tie, which Palace won 3-1, after catching Mateta’s head with his boot as he raced out to clear the ball.

Referee Michael Oliver only issued a red card after a VAR review.

Mateta received lengthy treatment, including oxygen, on the pitch before being stretchered to an ambulance and transported to hospital.

“What we know, 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,” Parish told the BBC.

“That is the most reckless challenge on a football pitch I think I’ve ever seen and I think he needs to have a long hard look at himself, that lad, because he’s endangering a fellow professional, maybe in his life, with a challenge like that.”

Palace manager Oliver Glasner confirmed Mateta is conscious but that he has suffered a serious injury to his ear.

“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,” said Glasner.

“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.”

Mateta had scored eight goals in his previous nine games and has 15 in total for Palace this season.

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The 27-year-old also netted five times as France won silver at the Paris Olympics last year.

Parish drew comparisons to the famous clash between German goalkeeper Toni Schumacher and French forward Patrick Battiston at the 1982 World Cup.

“It’s difficult for me to think about anything else at the moment with JP (Mateta) in hospital,” added Parish.

“Somebody mentioned there was one in the World Cup in 1982 like it, but it’s a dreadful challenge. And why the referee needed to go to the screen, I’ve got no idea.”

Palace made use of the man advantage for virtually the whole game to book their place in the quarter-finals.

Japhet Tanganga’s own goal broke the visitors resistence before Daniel Munoz prodded in a second.

Wes Harding pulled a goal back for the Lions, 13 minutes into first-half stoppage time added on for Mateta’s treatment.

Palace were made to wait until 82 minutes to secure progress when Eddie Nketiah’s looping header found the far corner.

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It’s PSG, Inter Milan Final as Arsenal Suffer Another Paris Heartbreak

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Arsenal’s bid to win the Champions League for the first time is over after they suffered a 2-1 second-leg defeat to Paris St Germain at the Parc des Princes.

Mikel Arteta’s players were already one goal down in the semi-final first leg, and, despite a strong start, they were two behind in the tie when Fabian Ruiz struck for PSG after 27 minutes.

Vitinha missed a penalty – after Myles Lewis-Skelly was adjudged to have handled the ball following a contentious VAR review – before Achraf Hakimi put the match out of sight in the 72nd minute.

But it is PSG, who have now beaten three Premier League sides in a row, with Arsenal following Liverpool and Aston Villa in succumbing to the French champions, that will play Inter Milan in the final on May 31 after a 3-1 aggregate success.

Arsenal’s sole appearance in a Champions League final came here in Paris in 2006 where they suffered a late defeat to Barcelona, and the French capital was the scene of yet more heartbreak for the north Londoners.

RESULTS

UCL

PSG 2-1 Arsenal

(PSG 3-1 agg.)

U20 AFCON

Nigeria 2-2 Kenya

(F’Eagles for Q’finals)

Tunisia 1-3 Morocco

(Morocco for Q’finals)

Europa League

Man Utd v Bilbao

Bodo/Glimt v Tottenham

Europa Conference

Chelsea v Djurgarden

Fiorentina v Betis

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Nothing can stop us from getting into Champions League final – Arsenal

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Arsenal’s Declan Rice insisted Tuesday the Gunners are confident they can “deliver something special” by overturning a 1-0 first-leg deficit when they face Paris Saint-Germain in the French capital in the return match of their Champions League semi-final tie.

“We’re here to win the game. We’re here to make a statement. We want to get to the final. So we need to be ready to go and do that,” Rice told reporters at the Parc des Princes on the eve of Wednesday’s showdown.

“We need to have big balls and we need to go out there on the biggest stage and show that we’re ready to play at this level.

“It’s going to be the biggest night in this club’s history if we can get to the final. So we’re fully ready to go.”

PSG hold the advantage coming into Wednesday’s match after Ousmane Dembele’s early goal gave them a narrow victory at the Emirates Stadium a week ago.

However, both Rice and Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta said they believed they could get the better of a side who have eliminated Premier League opposition in each of the last two rounds, knocking out Liverpool in the last 16 and Aston Villa in the quarter-finals.

“I think you need to have full belief,” Rice said.

“We certainly have that as a group. I think if we are the best versions of ourselves tomorrow night -– and we know we can be that –- there is no stopping us getting into that final.”

The England star said Arsenal could lean on the experience of facing reigning European champions Real Madrid in Spain in the last round, when Arteta’s team won 2-1 to progress 5-1 on aggregate.

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“When we went to the Bernabeu the other week there were a lot of questions about whether we could rise to that occasion,” said Rice, who scored two wonderful free-kicks in the first leg of that tie.

“We obviously had a 3-0 lead but there was still so much talk about them coming back and playing at the Bernabeu and we had not experienced that before.

“But I think as a group we handled that amazingly well. We have proved that we can handle big situations and tomorrow night is another massive step for this team.”

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U-20 AFCON: Nigeria battle Morocco to goalless draw

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The Flying Eagles of Nigeria were held to a goalless draw by Morocco in their second Group B match in the ongoing U-20 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Egypt.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the tightly contested clash took place on Sunday at the June 30 Air Defence Stadium in Cairo.

Clear-cut chances were few in the cagey affair.

The Flying Eagles controlled proceedings in the first half but managed only one shot on target.

Morocco dominated possession in the second half but failed to pose any serious threat to Nigeria’s goalkeeper Ebenezer Harcourt.

With the result, Morocco remain at the top of the group on goal difference, having accrued the same number of points as Nigeria (four).

Tunisia, who earlier defeated Kenya 3-1 in the group’s other fixture, are in third place with three points.

The Flying Eagles will face Kenya in their final Group B match on Wednesday at 4 p.m.

NAN reports that the top four teams from the tournament will qualify to represent Africa at the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Chile, scheduled to take place from Sept. 27 to Oct. 19. (NAN)

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