FLORENCE, Italy (AP) — Fiorentina midfielder Edoardo Bove is in a medically induced coma after collapsing on the field during his team’s Serie A match at home to Inter Milan on Sunday, with the game abandoned shortly afterward.
Bove's teammates immediately called for medical help and both sets of players surrounded the 22-year-old while he was being treated before he was swiftly stretchered off to an ambulance near the pitch and taken to Careggi Hospital in Florence.
“Fiorentina and the Careggi University Hospital announce that the footballer Edoardo Bove ... is currently under pharmacological sedation and hospitalized in intensive care,” Fiorentina said in a statement. "The first cardiological and neurological tests performed have ruled out acute damage to the central nervous system and the cardio-respiratory system. Edoardo Bove will be re-evaluated in the next 24 hours.”
Sky Italia reported that the player regained consciousness while he was in the ambulance and was managing to breathe on his own.
Bove’s parents and his girlfriend have arrived at the hospital along with Fiorentina coach Raffaele Palladino and most of his teammates, as well as club directors and the city's mayor.
Fiorentina fans have also gathered at the hospital.
The incident happened in the 16th minute of the match, with play stopped following a VAR check. Bove apparently bent down to tie the laces on his boot before he suddenly dropped to the ground.
Fiorentina players were distraught on the field and were comforted by staff members as well as Inter players. Several were openly sobbing before the teams filed off the field.
The Italian league match was immediately halted, before being abandoned. The score at the time of Bove's collapse was 0-0.
Many at Fiorentina — as well as the fans — remember former captain Davide Astori, who was found dead in his hotel room in March 2018 before a match in Udine.
It is the second incident this year of a player collapsing during a Serie A match. It happened to Roma defender Evan Ndicka during his team's match at Udinese in April.
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The Associated Press
