MILLWALL have condemned the “abhorrent” social media abuse directed at former Middlesbrough goalkeeper Liam Roberts following his sending-off in Saturday’s FA Cup defeat to Crystal Palace.
Roberts was dismissed in the eighth minute at Selhurst Park for kicking Jean-Philippe Mateta in the head, resulting in the Eagles striker requiring 25 stitches.
Palace chairman Steve Parish described Roberts’ challenge as the “most reckless” he has seen, while television and media personality Piers Morgan called the incident “shameful”.
Meanwhile the Football Association is expected to consider whether Roberts’ red card reached the “clearly insufficient” threshold that could result in a longer ban.
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Millwall said in a strongly worded statement: “The club are disgusted by abuse directed towards goalkeeper Liam Roberts following Saturday’s unfortunate collision with Jean-Philippe Mateta.
“The reporting on the matter, as well as disgraceful suggestions made by certain news organisations and high-profile figures within the sport that Liam intended to harm Jean-Philippe, has contributed to the unwarranted character assassination of Liam and fuelled abhorrent online abuse towards him.
“No player at Millwall Football Club steps onto the pitch with the intent to harm another, and the club will continue to support Liam, who reached out to Jean-Philippe personally on Saturday evening with an apology which was accepted immediately.”
“The club are pleased to hear positive updates from Jean-Philippe and wish him the best in his recovery.”
Millwall boss Alex Neil backed Roberts after the game, which Palace won 3-1, saying: "I don't think there's any intent. Why would there have been? It's the start of the game, the ball gets put in behind and he tries to get there.
"I certainly wouldn't label it as the worst challenge I've seen. We don't want the lad to be injured so naturally, we wish Mateta well and hope he's back on the pitch soon. For me, it's mistimed, he's been sent off, he's disappointed. We wish Mateta well and it's nothing more than that for me.
"At the time when it happened, I didn't know if he'd caught the lad or caught the ball because the ball seemed to go off in a strange angle. Unfortunately, [the screens] at the side of the dugout weren't working, so we couldn't really watch the incident back.
"I haven't seen it back since but he's mistimed it and got sent off, which at that stage of the game, makes the game doubly difficult for us. It was disappointing. He's made a call and hasn't quite got it right."
Roberts joined Millwall in the summer, having made just four appearances for Boro during his two years at the club. He spent last season on loan at Barnsley in League One.
