Footballer Edoardo Bove ‘conscious and talking’ after collapsing on pitch

A footballer who collapsed on the pitch during a match on Sunday is awake and answering questions after spending the night in hospital, Italian media reports have said.

Fiorentina midfielder Edoardo Bove, 22, was taken to hospital after falling to the ground in their Serie A home game against Inter Milan at the Artemio Franchi Stadium.

The Italian regained consciousness in the ambulance before being put into a medically induced coma.

Various reports in Italy have said Bove’s night “went well” and the Fiorentina player was taken off artificial ventilation and was awake and lucid.

This has not been confirmed by the hospital or the club.

Corriere dello Sport quoted Fiorentina’s David De Gea, the former Manchester United goalkeeper who said “Bove is better” after visiting him with team-mate Lucas Beltran.

The Florence club said in a statement on Sunday their player was under “pharmacological sedation” in the intensive care ward of the city’s Careggi University Hospital.

First tests showed no acute damage to either his central nervous system or cardio-respiratory system, the club said, adding that he’ll “be re-evaluated in the next 24 hours”.

Footage of the incident, in the 16th minute of the game, showed no other players were close to him at the time, with play paused following a VAR check.

Apparently bending down to tie his laces, Bove suddenly dropped to the ground.

Both squads and coaching staff immediately surrounded him, in scenes reminiscent of the cardiac arrest suffered by Christian Eriksen at the European Championships in 2021 and other, similar, incidents.

Bove’s distressed team-mates immediately called for medical help and he was quickly stretchered off.

Fiorentina players were comforted on the field by staff members as well as Inter players, but some were openly sobbing before the teams left the field after the match was abandoned.

Bove’s parents and his girlfriend are at hospital with him, along with Fiorentina coach Raffaele Palladino and most of his team-mates, as well as club directors and the city’s mayor.

The score at the time of Bove’s collapse was 0-0.

In 2018, former Fiorentina captain Davide Astori was found dead in his hotel room before a match in Udine.

It is the second incident this year of a player collapsing during a Serie A match after Roma defender Evan Ndicka collapsed during a Serie A match at Udinese.

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The Ivory Coast international suffered a collapsed lung and had no sign of cardiac issues and has returned to the team this season.

Bove began his career at Roma’s youth academy and joined Fiorentina on loan in the summer with the option to make the move permanent.