Goalkeeper who left Palace forward Mateta needing 25 stitches in FA Cup faces a longer ban

LONDON — Millwall goalkeeper Liam Roberts could receive an extended ban for a dangerous challenge which left Crystal Palace forward Jean-Philippe Mateta needing 25 stitches.

The Football Association said it had filed a claim to increase Roberts’ punishment from the standard three-game ban for serious foul play, which it called “clearly insufficient.” Roberts has until Thursday to provide a response, the FA said.

Roberts was sent off just eight minutes into the FA Cup fifth-round game after he ran out of the box and leaped to kick the ball clear, but struck Mateta in the side of the face with a high left-footed follow-through.

Mateta needed lengthy medical treatment before he was stretchered off the field wearing a neck brace and taken to hospital. Palace said he needed “specialist treatment and 25 stitches to a severe laceration to his left ear.”

Palace won the game 3-1 for a place in the FA Cup quarterfinals.

Mateta, Palace’s top scorer this season, has said he hopes to be back in action “very soon.”