Fiorentina midfielder Edoardo Bove is awake and oriented after collapsing on the field during a Serie A match against Inter Milan.
The team announced that Bove had spoken with his family, club management, the coach and his teammates, who all rushed to see him at the hospital.
The doctors at Careggi University Hospital will conduct further tests to determine what led to Bove collapsing on the pitch.
Bove fell to the ground in the 16th minute of the match, which was abandoned shortly afterward with the scoreline at 0-0.
The 22-year-old Italian was swiftly transported via stretcher to an ambulance and taken to hospital, where he was placed in a medically induced coma.
Fiorentina said initial tests “ruled out acute damage to the central nervous system and the cardio-respiratory system” and that Bove will be re-evaluated in the next 24 hours.
Fiorentina players were distraught on the field and were comforted by staff members as well as Inter players. Several were openly sobbing before both teams filed off the field.
–-with files from the Associated Press