Fiorentina's General Manager Joe Barone in Critical Condition After Cardiac Arrest

The heart attack occurred at the hotel around 3 p.m. while he was at a hotel in Cavenago di Brianza, a few hours before the purple team's match with Atalanta at the Gewiss Stadium in Bergamo. Then the rush towards the San Raffaele Hospital in Milan. Fiorentina's General Manager Joe Barone is in very serious condition and was operated on the heart yesterday by Professor Alberto Zangrillo's team. The latest bulletin was issued last night by the purple society: "General Manager Joe Barone is currently hospitalized in the cardiac surgery intensive care unit of the San Raffaele Hospital in Milan, directed by Professor Zangrillo. The clinical conditions are critical but stable. Barone is currently treated with the most advanced therapies in terms of support and support of cardiac function. A new update - the note concludes - will be released tomorrow." In the hospital, in addition to a large group of players and executives, his wife rushed. The children also arrived from the United States. Shock in the purple group and the club immediately asked to be able to not play the game, which in fact was "postponed to a date to be defined", as appeared on the stadium's maxi-screens around 5 p.m. an hour before the start of the game. Barone had a cardiac arrest and was assisted 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 waiting for the transfer to Bergamo for the game. The conditions of Barone - a United States citizen - immediately appeared very serious: for this reason, the emergency medical service sent an area car and an ambulance, with which the general manager of the Viola was transferred to the San Raffaele Hospital in Milan in a red code. The Fiorentina company immediately asked the Serie A League, in agreement with Atalanta, to postpone the match. An hour before the meeting, the Football League issued an official note with the postponement. However, with less than an hour to go before the start of the match, many had already shown up at the stadium. There, the statement was also read out over the loudspeakers and the stewards invited those present to leave the sports facility. There were a few timid whistles. It is not yet known when the match can be recovered, given the very tight schedule 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, executives, and players remained apprehensive about the health condition of their general manager. The memory immediately went to Davide Astori, the defender who died in a hotel in Udine, before a game, due to a heart problem in 2018 at the age of 31. The coach, Vincenzo Italiano, the sports director, Nicolas Burdisso, the captain, Cristiano Biraghi, and other players reached San Raffaele, while Barone's family members - the wife living in Florence and the four children in the USA - also set off to reach their relative in hospital. OFFICIAL STATEMENT: "Acf Fiorentina announces that General Manager Joe Barone remains hospitalized in the cardiac surgery intensive care unit of the San Raffaele Hospital in Milan in critical clinical conditions following an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. Vital functions are supported by artificial mechanical support techniques. Any prognostic prediction is currently out of place. The Barone family, the Commisso family, and all of Fiorentina thank the San Raffaele and all of Professor Zangrillo's team for the work that has been done from the first moment." The club announced on its website.