'His ear looks terrible' - Jean-Philippe Mateta 'conscious' in hospital after suffering 'very serious' head injury as Oliver Glasner calls out Millwall goalkeeper for dangerous challenge

Mateta was stretchered off following a near 10-minute delay after he collided with Millwall goalkeeper Liam Roberts, who had rushed out and hit the Palace striker in the head with a high boot. The challenge was initially missed by referee Michael Oliver before VAR intervened and called for Roberts to be sent off. The incident was made worse by a section of Millwall fans chanting at Mateta to 'let him die'.

The situation led to Palace chairman Steve Parish describing the challenge as one of the 'worst I have ever seen', while Glasner was reluctant to blame Roberts, although he was critical of the keeper's actions.

Palace emerged 3-1 winners over their London rivals in the FA Cup fifth round after an own goal from Japhet Tanganga followed by strikes from Daniel Munoz and Eddie Nketiah, who had replaced Mateta in the first half. Millwall scored their goal through Wes Harding in the 13th minute of first-half stoppage time.

Speaking after the game, Glasner told BBC Sport: "[Mateta] 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 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 go 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."

Palace will feature in the draw for the FA Cup quarter-final after their win over Millwall but the immediate focus will be on Mateta, with Glasner confirming that the French forward will miss his side's next game against Ipswich in a week's time. The Palace manager revealed he was 'hopeful' Mateta would be fit for the quarter-finals at the end of March.