From boos to BOOM! How Jean-Philippe Mateta won back Palace fans to become club legend

In January, Palace seemed in free fall.

They lost Marc Guehi to Manchester City, Oliver Glasner announced he would leave in the summer and came out with some spiky quotes directed at fans, and Mateta, the fan favourite, also came very close to leaving.

So close, in fact, that it was only a failed medical that prevented him from becoming an AC Milan player in January.

Some players, when facing the scenario of returning to their club with their tail between their legs after trying to leave, would sulk, put in the bare minimum and then make sure they could actually leave in the summer.

That cannot be said of Mateta.

When coming on against AEK Larnaca in the UEFA Conference League last 16, in his first game back after the transfer saga, he was booed by Palace fans at Selhurst Park.

They were clearly upset that another of their key players tried to leave.

Less than a month later, he had Selhurst Park screaming his trademark ‘boom’ celebration, when scoring against Fiorentina on the Thursday and then a brace against Newcastle on the Sunday.

And on Palace’s biggest ever stage, a first European final, he got his best-ever boom when scoring the winner.

TNT Sports pundit Joleon Lescott now believes nobody will ever jeer him after his remarkable turnaround.

He said: ”I think it was the game against Larnaca at home that was his first game back and they were booing him. I don’t think anyone will boo him ever again.

”He seems like he knows how to celebrate and I’m pleased for him because, like I say, he was the scapegoat for wanting to leave the club for whatever reason in January.

”He came back, got himself fit and he scored the winner in a European final.”

Glen Hoddle echoed the sentiments of Lescott when talking about the magnitude of Mateta’s goal.

”He loves it, doesn’t he,” he said. ”He has ended up putting himself in the history books for Palace, scoring the winning goal - incredible.”

Mateta himself has been vocal and entertaining in post-match interviews throughout the Conference League campaign.

After the victory over Shakhtar Donetsk in the semi-final, he gate-crashed interviews with both Adam Wharton and Dean Henderson, and he was looking forward to leading the celebrations long into Thursday night.

He said: ”I feel fantastic! We did it. First time in Europe, we did it. Now I just want to celebrate, I just want to party, this guy [Joel Ward, the former club captain who was on pundit duty] has to be with us, he has to celebrate with us too and that is how I feel.”

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