Fiorentina general manager Joe Barone is hospitalized in San Raffaele hospital in Milan in very serious conditions after feeling ill around 3pm while he was in a hotel in Cavenago di Brianza, a few hours before the Viola's match with Atalanta at Gewiss Stadium in Bergamo.
Choc in the purple group and the club immediately asked not to play the match, which in fact was "postponed to a later date", as appeared on the stadium's big screens around 5pm, an hour before kick-off.
Barone had a cardiac arrest and was helped by the Fiorentina staff, in particular by the team doctor, who immediately called for help.
At that moment Fiorentina was in retreat at the 'Devero Hotel', not far from the A4 and was awaiting the transfer to Bergamo for the match.
The conditions of Barone - a US citizen - immediately appeared very serious: for this reason the 118 sent a medical vehicle and an ambulance to the area, with which the director of Viola was transferred to the San Raffaele hospital in Milan under code red.
The doctors have reserved their prognosis and the manager is hospitalized in intensive care.
The Fiorentina club immediately asked the Serie A League, in agreement with Atalanta, to postpone the match.
An hour before the match, the Lega Calcio issued an official note regarding the postponement.
However, with less than an hour left until the start of the match, many had already turned up at the stadium.
There too the statement was read over the loudspeakers and the stewards invited those present to leave the sports facility.
There was no shortage of timid whistles.
It is not yet known when the injury will be recovered, also given the very busy calendar of the two teams involved in the European cups and Fiorentina also in the Italian cup.
In fact, Fiorentina had not yet reached Bergamo: staff, managers and players remained apprehensive about the health conditions of their general manager.
The memory immediately went to Davide Astori, the defender who died in a hotel in Udine, before a match, due to a heart problem in 2018 at the age of 31.
The coach, Vincenzo Italiano, the sporting director, Nicolas Burdisso, the captain, Cristiano Biraghi, and other players reached San Raffaele, while Barone's family members - his wife who lives in Florence and his four children in the USA - also came on their way to join their relative in hospital.
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