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Crystal Palace star stretchered off in tears after horror injury vs Everton in first game It was a nightmare start to the season for one Premier League ace. Crystal Palace defender Chadi Riad was stretchered off the pitch in tears during Saturday's 2-0 Premier League defeat to Everton. The Moroccan defender joined Palace back in 2024, but has been blighted by injuries in each of his two full seasons with the Eagles. Riad managed just three senior appearances in his first campaign with the club after suffering a cruciate ligament tear and a series of long-term knee injuries. He returned midway through last season, and despite only managing a further 12 appearances in the second half of the campaign, it was enough to see him included in the Morocco squad for the 2026 World Cup. But he has once again been undone by injury. Riad went down in the second half of the clash with Everton at the Hill Dickinson Stadium and needed to be stretchered off by the medical staff. Riad had been alive to danger on the edge of Palace's penalty area, but his defensive efforts left him in a heap after his studs got caught in the turf. It took a bit of time for the physios to move him onto the stretcher, with the 23-year-old unable to hold back the tears as he was carried off the pitch. Tim Sherwood, who was covering the match for Sky Sports News, said: "It looks like he's going to miss an awful lot of time. He was in tears on that stretcher. It looked a real bad one to his knee. "It looked like it buckled underneath him and he's facing quite a considerable amount of time out of the game, unfortunately for him." EXPRESS SPORT ON FB! Get all the best sports news and much more on our Facebook page It was one of several disappointments on opening day for new Palace boss Pierre Sage, whose side slipped to a 2-0 defeat against the Toffees. Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Thierno Barry were on the scoresheet for the home side, which will do little to settle the noise surrounding Palace's difficult summer. Adam Wharton is the latest big-name Palace player to be linked to an exit, but Sage stood firm when asked about his future before the Everton match. He said: "We sold big players and now I think it’s not the moment to do that. Adam can play at a big club but I think one year with us, one year with a new dynamic, will be good for him and we need him." It doesn't get much easier for the south Londoners, as they welcome Manchester City to Selhurst Park next weekend. Following that, it's a run of matches against Fulham, Ipswich and Leeds United.