After horror foul
Ex-Bundesliga professional plays with a curious mask
Updated on March 30, 2025 – 07:51 a.m.Reading time: 1 min.
At the beginning of March, Jean-Philippe Mateta became the victim of brutal getting in. Now the attacker celebrated his comeback – in an unusual look.
With a mask back on the pitch: Jean-Philippe Mateta gave his comeback just four weeks after a brutal foul-with an unfamiliar accessory. In the 3-0 win of his club Crystal Palace in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup on Saturday, the former striker of FSV Mainz 05 with special mask in the starting XI lasted for 70 minutes.
Mateta was fouled by the opposing goalkeeper Liam Roberts Müde in the previous round of the cup against Millwall in early March and then had to be sewn with 25 stitches. Roberts was blocked for six games.
However, the attacker defended the culprit afterwards: “I don’t think Liam woke up in the morning and decided to give me a wound like this,” Mateta later told the English broadcaster Sky Sports.
And further: “We are all under pressure and he just wanted to do his best, but too many emotions make you crazy things. It was just a mistake, you learn from it.” Roberts, however, “contacted the hospital and apologized”.
Palace team manager Oliver Glasner explained in advance that Mateta was “ready” for use. And commented on the new look of his attacker with a wink: he suggested Mateta to try water polo – the mask reminded him of it. “It looks a bit strange, but he says that he feels comfortable,” said Glasner.