Olympic final to FA Cup final: Mateta takes long journey to Wembley, via the hospital

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Crystal Palace’s Jean-Philippe Mateta, wearing protective headgear, warms up before the English FA Cup semifinal soccer match between Crystal Palace and Aston Villa at the Wembley stadium in London, Saturday, April 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Dave Shopland)

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Crystal Palace’s Jean-Philippe Mateta reacts during the English FA Cup semifinal soccer match between Crystal Palace and Aston Villa at the Wembley stadium in London, Saturday, April 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Dave Shopland)

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Crystal Palace’s Jean-Philippe Mateta, left, celebrates with teammates after scoring his sides second goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Arsenal and Crystal Palace at Emirates stadium in London, Wednesday, April 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Ian Walton)

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Crystal Palace’s Jean-Philippe Mateta, left and Bournemouth’s Dean Huijsen vie for the ball, during the English Premier League soccer match between Crystal Palace and Bournemouth, at Selhurst Park, London, Saturday April 19, 2025. (Jonathan Brady/PA via AP)

By STEVE DOUGLAS

From an Olympic final to an FA Cup final — with a trip to the hospital to patch up a “destroyed” ear in between.

It’s been quite the season for Jean-Philippe Mateta, an imposing striker seeking to be Crystal Palace’s savior this weekend in the south London club’s bid for a first trophy in its 120-year professional history.

When Palace lines up against Manchester City ahead of the FA Cup final at Wembley Stadium on Saturday, Mateta will really stand out as the TV camera pans along the two teams.

The 27-year-old Frenchman will be wearing protective headgear that includes a thick cover over his left ear, which had to be saved by a plastic surgeon after Mateta was on the end of a horrific-looking, head-high challenge on Palace’s path to Wembley.

Mateta needed 25 stitches and nearly a month out of action following that attempted tackle by Millwall goalkeeper Liam Roberts early in Palace’s fifth-round win on March 1. It was described by Palace chairman Steve Parish as “the most reckless challenge on a football pitch I think I’ve ever seen.”

Mateta’s not been quite the same player since, scoring just two goals in 10 games since his return to Palace’s team.

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The psychological effects of the injury might still be affecting him.

Maybe a long season has caught up with him, too.

While most players were grinding away in preseason training in mid-July last year, Mateta was about to begin the Olympic men’s soccer tournament as one of the over-age players selected by France for its gold-medal bid on home soil.

Mateta started every game and scored five goals, including a stoppage-time equalizer in the final to take the game to extra time against eventual champion Spain at the Parc des Princes.

Nine days later, he was starting for Palace against Brentford on the opening weekend of the Premier League season.

Nine months later, Mateta will be running out at Wembley — albeit with a new look.

Turnaround under Glasner

Mateta joined Palace from German team Mainz in January 2021, initially on loan before making the transfer permanent a year later.

He took some time to adjust to English soccer, scoring three times in his first 20 games in a year-long span when he wasn’t first choice. He then scored just two goals in 32 games in the 2022-23 season, by which time Palace fans might have given up on him.

His fortunes changed following the appointment of Oliver Glasner as manager in February last year. Glasner was in charge for the final 13 Premier Leagues of the 2023-24 season and Mateta scored 13 goals.

Mateta has added 17 more goals this season, with 14 coming in the Premier League.

Only Mohamed Salah, Erling Haaland and Alexander Isak have scored more league goals than Mateta since Glasner’s arrival.

Palace’s pick-ups

Mateta — who cost 11 million pounds (now $14.6 million) — is an example of the good recruitment done by Palace in recent years.

Daniel Munoz joined from Genk in Belgium for around 7 million pounds ($9.3 million) in January last year and has been a revelation as an attacking right wing back.

Center back Marc Guehi joined from Chelsea for 18 million pounds ($24 million) as a up-and-coming talent in 2021 and is now an established England international for whom Tottenham had a reported bid of 70 million pounds rejected in the winter transfer window.

Palace has become known as a club which specializes in signing the top young players from the second-tier Championship. In recent years, they include Eberechi Eze and Adam Wharton — both are now England internationals — as well as Romain Esse, who scored 25 seconds into his Palace debut in January after joining from Millwall.

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Steve Douglas is at https://twitter.com/sdouglas80

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer