'I was looking into the eyes of a dead person' - Fiorentina's Robin Gosens opens up on terrifying moment team-mate Edoardo Bove suffered a cardiac arrest and collapsed during Serie A clash

Fiorentina midfielder Edoardo Bove, on loan from Roma, collapsed on the pitch just 15 minutes into his team's Serie A clash against Inter Milan in December. Players were visibly shaken by the incident in early December, leading to the match being postponed. Bove was quickly rushed to the hospital by ambulance and placed under sedation in the intensive care unit. The Fiorentina player has since undergone heart surgery to have a defibrillator implanted and was discharged after spending two weeks in the hospital.

Bove returned to the training ground to see his team-mates just a couple of weeks following his heart surgery. Indeed, the 22-year-old was given a hero's welcome.

The Italian also took to Instagram to express his thoughts on the incident, stating that he was "truly grateful to belong to this world", thanking everyone "from the bottom of my heart for the affection and closeness" they showed during his treatment.

Now, Bove's Fiorentina team-mate Robin Gosens has opened up on the incident, describing how he felt the moment he saw Bove collapse on the field.

"I felt like I was actually looking into the eyes of a dead person. There was little life in them," said Gosens on his own podcast 'How Are You?' (h/t BILD). "It was probably the worst thing I’ve ever seen."

Although Bove played 17 minutes off the bench in Fiorentina's 3-0 win at home over Inter in February, he hasn't featured since, as rules in Italy forbid a player fitted with an Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (ICD) from playing.