Teammate of Barnabas Varga describes 'shocking' situation following sickening collision at Euro 2024
A teammate of Hungary's Barnabas Varga has spoken about the 'shocking situation' following his horror injury in last night's Euros game.
Last night (23 June) saw Hungary score a last minute winner against Scotland during a tightly fought final group match.
However the game was stopped for around seven minutes when Varga suffered a horror collision with Scotland goalkeeper Angus Gunn, seeing the 29-year-old forward left motionless on the ground.
Varga was later taken to hospital and is now in a stable condition, with the Ferencvaros player reported to have suffered broken bones in his face.
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His teammate and Hungary captain Dominik Szoboszlai has since spoken out about the incident, appearing to criticise Euros staff for not reacting to incident quick enough.
Speaking to Magenta TV following the match, Szoboszlai insisted that a delay in treatment could've led to severe consequences for his teammate.
"I was one of the first people there," he said, adding that Varga was struggling to 'get enough air'.
"I was shocked myself, I tried to put him on his side, which is actually the best thing you can do in situations like this.
"I have no idea what the protocol is, whether people are not allowed to run onto the pitch if we need help."
The Liverpool player was then asked if he thought medical staff in the stadium at Stuttgart had reacted quick enough, to which he replied: "I don't think so.
"You could see that it's a huge problem. Everyone was running, I was running - these things add up to seconds.
"It's not my decision, but we have to change something about it. We have to do it faster, much faster. Everyone knows that seconds add up."
Hungary's manager Marco Rossi also spoke about the situation after the match in his press conference, saying: "I don't know if it was with the goalkeeper or another player, it was confusing and there was a VAR check.
"The players said he was not conscious, everyone was worried about his condition and that the doctors were a little late getting on, maybe they didn't realise how dangerous it was.
"Fortunately he is not under any risk. He will have an operation because he suffered a fracture of the cheek."
The Hungarian FA has since issued a statement on Varga's condition, reassuring fans that he was 'stable'.
"Several bones in Barnabas Varga's face were broken during the collision during the match, and he also suffered a concussion," the statement read.
"The striker is most likely to undergo surgery. He spends the night in the hospital in Stuttgart. The whole team is rooting for him."
Brenna Cooper