The forward came on at half-time for the injured Odsonne Edouard and soon after won and converted the penalty which put his team into a fully-deserved lead against the title challengers in SE25 – Mateta’s first Premier League goal of the season.
But two controversial yellow cards for Jordan Ayew saw Palace reduced to 10 men for the latter stages, allowing Liverpool to score twice in the closing moments.
“It’s sad because we were 1-0 up and we conceded two goals in the end,” Mateta told BBC Sport.
“[The goal] was my first one this season and hopefully more are coming.
“It was much better against a big team in front of the fans. We showed character, but it was not victory today.
“It was a good performance but we didn’t win. We’ll keep going, working hard and next week maybe it’ll be a good result.”
