Football

Edoardo Bove on awakening: 'Thanks to everyone. Sunday the illness during Fiorentina-Inter

The footballer is no longer intubated in the intensive care unit of the Careggi hospital, where he was under pharmacological sedation after falling ill on the pitch on Sunday during Fiorentina v Inter

1 December 2024Aggiornato il 2 dicembre 2024 alle ore 14:18

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Edoardo Bove prima del malore che lo ha colpito durante la partita Fiorentina-Inter. ANSA/CLAUDIO GIOVANNINI

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'Thank you all'. These were the first words of Fiorentina midfielder Edoardo Bove this morning when he woke up. The footballer is no longer intubated in the intensive care unit of the Careggi hospital, where he spent the night under pharmacological sedation, and this morning he spoke with the doctors and his family, his father Giovanni, his mother Tanya and his girlfriend Martina.

Doctors at the Florentine polyclinic continue to follow the patient through a long series of diagnostic tests to clarify what caused the arrhythmia that allegedly led to cardiac arrest, forcing rescuers to use the defibrillator.

The illness during Inter-Fiorentina

On Sunday, an illness struck the Fiorentina midfielder during the match against Inter at the Florence stadium. At the 17th minute of the first half Bove collapsed unconscious on the ground, immediately surrounded by the players and the teams' technical staff. He was then transported to the Careggi hospital in the Tuscan capital. The match was first suspended then postponed.

Acute damage excluded

Bove was under pharmacological sedation in the intensive care unit of the Careggi hospital the night between Sunday and Monday. The initial cardiological and neurological assessments carried out,' the club announced, 'have ruled out acute damage to the central nervous system and the cardio-respiratory system.

Epileptic seizure hypothesis

According to initial reports, an epileptic fit caused the illness with cardiac arrest on the pitch. The video images show the midfielder, 22 years old, who after tying his shoes, gets up, takes two steps then staggers and collapses on the ground unconscious, close to him there are Dumfies and Calhanoglu who immediately noticed the serious situation, then all the other players and Bove's companions rushed in, with tears and hands in their hair. It was Danilo Cataldi, the Viola midfielder, who reportedly intervened by putting his hand in his mouth and moving Edoardo Bove's tongue out of the way to prevent his airway from being blocked after the player collapsed to the ground.

The young purple midfielder had taken a knock between his chest and spleen after a clash of play with Dumfries before he felt ill. Shortly afterwards, Bove had changed his shirt, remaining shirtless for a few seconds. According to rumours, he had shortly turned to his bench to reveal that he was feeling dizzy, then the illness that also caused him to suffer a cardiac arrest when he was in the ambulance.

Messages

"God, please", this was teammate David De Gea's tweet for Edoardo Bove. There were many reactions from the world of football for the Fiorentina player, from Hellas Verona 'Forza Edoardo we are all with you' to Ismael Bennacer: 'All my thoughts go out to Edoardo Bove, hoping it was just a scare', to the star player Terry Henry. Juventus, again through their social networks, also expressed their closeness to the purple player 'We are all with you Edoardo'.

'The Fiorentina directors Pradè and Ferrari have gone to hospital, I am here to give my sympathy on behalf of Inter and the entire football world, to the boy's family and to Fiorentina. Suspension? It was a spontaneous choice on the part of everyone, we are a community, it's normal to make a decision like this. All the players, both theirs and ours, and the referee, were emotionally involved, it was a spontaneous decision for something that we hope is not very serious'. Inter president Beppe Marotta said this to the microphones of Sky Sport after the match was suspended.

"I am in constant contact with the medical staff who are assisting Edoardo Bove. In the 17th minute of Fiorentina-Inter, Edoardo fell ill and was promptly rescued. At the moment, the priority is his health. The match has been dutifully postponed. We await updates from the doctors and hope for good news. Come on, Edoardo!'. Thus the governor of Tuscany Eugenio Giani on social media.

Violet fans: "Forza Edoardo, Firenze è con te"

A banner on a wall in the car park of the Careggi emergency room, 'Forza Edoardo, Firenze è con te'. It was hung just before 8.30 p.m. by some fans of the Fiesole curve. A gesture accompanied by applause from those present, almost as if to ease the tension, which arrived practically at the same time as the joint communiqué issued by Fiorentina and Careggi on the condition of Bove, who was hospitalised after falling ill on the pitch during the match against Inter.

Fiorentina fans, scarves around their necks, arrived from the Franchi with tense faces looking at their mobile phones waiting for good news. 'We were at the stadium,' says Fabio, 'to see him live was a very bad thing, in a stadium full for what was supposed to be a day of celebration. With the mind inevitably going to the Davide Astori tragedy. "This, however, we saw live. These are things that inevitably touch you, the hope is that he will recover soon'. "We were all shocked by this terrible event. Bove was as the crow flies very close to where I was sitting when he fell ill: to see him keel over like that was a hard blow for all of us present at the Artemio Franchi,' the words entrusted to a note from the former mayor of Florence, now MEP Dario Nardella, who was also at the Franchi for the match.