Terrible scenes as Fiorentina’s Edoardo Bove collapses on the pitch during Inter Milan clash as Serie A game is suspended and players are left in tears

The horrible scenes occurred in the 15th minute of the clash. The 22-year-old, who is on loan at Fiorentina from Roma, suddenly fell to the ground as he bent down to remove his boot. While medical personnel attended to him on the field, the other players and officials made a wall around the midfielder. The game was postponed soon afterwards.

Both Inter and Fiorentina players were visibly upset as Bove was being tended to by the medical staff of both the teams and the emergency personnel. Some were also visibly angry as the ambulance failed to drive on to the field immediately to help Bove out, which has since been attributed to the construction work currently underway at the stadium.

According to Sky in Italy, Bove's father and the mayor of Florence travelled to the hospital, shortly followed by other Fiorentina players.

Two hours after hte player's initial collapse, Fiorentina provided an update which read: "Fiorentina and the Careggi University Hospital have announced that footballer Edoardo Bove, who was treated on the pitch following a loss of consciousness during the Fiorentina v Inter match, is currently under sedation and is hospitalised in intensive care. The Viola player arrived at the emergency department in stable haemodynamic conditions and initial cardiological and neurological tests have ruled out acute damage to the central nervous system and the cardio-respiratory system. Bove will be re-evaluated in the next 24 hours."

The club's president, Rocco Commisso, added: "Forza Edoardo, we’re with you. You’re a strong boy with a great character. We’re reaching out to the boy's family during these moments."

The match between Fiorentina and Inter has been postponed and no date has been set for it to be played. The decision to stop the game was a unanimous one, Inter president Beppe Marotta said to Sky.

"The decision to postpone the match was spontaneous on everyone's part, we are a community, all the players and even the referee were emotionally involved. We hope it is nothing serious," he said.