Footballer dies at 26 years old. From falling ill on the pitch to rushing to the hospital. An investigation opened

by Pietro Mecarozzi

There are those who cry and those who tremble, despite the almost 30 degrees in Florence. There are those who stare into space, whispering disconnected words, seeking comfort in hugs. At the Careggi hospital you can only hear the screams of Mattia Giani’s mother and the angry punches of his father, thrown at the door of the room where the body of his 26-year-old son lies lifeless. Mattia died yesterday morning after fighting until the end, as he always did on the playing field.

On Sunday, in Campi Bisenzio, he collapsed to the ground in the 15th minute of the first half of the match between Eccellenza, Lanciotto Campi-Castelfiorentino (the latter team for which he wore the number 7 shirt). After an action that ended with a good shot on goal, Giani – originally from Ponte a Egola, near San Miniato – took three steps back, one hand on his heart and the other on his head. Then the darkness: the collapse to the ground, the vain attempts at resuscitation, the rush to the hospital, the hopes that fade away minute by minute, the machinery to keep him alive. The young man’s condition immediately appeared very serious: what seemed like yet another injury to a talented but unlucky player first turned into an epileptic attack, and subsequently into cardiac arrest. “He was returning from a minor injury – says Mario Bacci, team manager of Castelfiorentino –, so we thought it was a relapse”. But is not so. His parents, grandfather and girlfriend come down from the stands. His mother bends over him, takes his hand, calls him screaming. Mattia doesn’t respond, he doesn’t move. In the minutes that follow the illness, chaos reigns. At the edge of the pitch and outside the municipal stadium Ballerini di Campi Bisenzio there are no 118 vehicles present. A masseur from Castelfiorentino, a former nurse, and a doctor from the audience rush towards the boy: they give him cardiac massage, use the defibrillator (which does not discharge, as the heart is still beating in those first moments), they do mouth-to-mouth. Ambulances arrive at the scene only after 10 minutes. A lot, perhaps too much, time in situations like this.

Could more have been done? Was there specialized medical personnel present? Questions that prosecutor Giuseppe Ledda will try to answer, who has opened an investigation file and authorized the autopsy on the boy’s body for Wednesday. According to initial rumours, the illness could have been caused by ventricular tachycardia, the same thing that happened to the Fiorentina captain, Davide Astori, and to the then Livorno player, Piermario Morosini. The presence or absence of medical personnel on site also needs to be clarified. The management of Lanciotto Campi makes it known that, since the Misericordia did not have ambulances available to cover that match, a doctor was present. On the other hand, however, the only doctor who intervened makes it known that he was there as a spectator and not as a healthcare professional. Giani was well known in the world of football. Messages of closeness to the family came from every sporting level: from the president of the FIGC, Gabriele Gravina, to the Roma player, Gianluca Mancini, Giani’s brother-in-law. Politics also intervenes in the tragedy, in particular the senator of Italia Viva, Daniela Sbrollini: “I will present a question to the Minister for Sport and Youth, Andrea Abodi”, she promises.