Hungary defender Milos Kerkez has insisted that Barnabas Varga will be "all right" after he was hospitalised in a sickening collision at Euro 2024.
Varga had to be stretchered off the pitch in the second half of Hungary’s dramatic 1-0 win over Scotland in Stuttgart on Sunday night. The Hungary striker collided with Scotland goalkeeper Angus Gunn as he came to punch the ball away and was knocked unconscious.
The players formed a protective wall around Varga before sheets were held up to allow the medical staff to work on him in private. After a long stoppage, which saw Hungary captain Dominik Szoboszlai play a key role along with the medical staff, Kevin Csoboth grabbed the winner in the 100th minute on the counter-attack to send Scotland out of the tournament.
Hungary’s players dedicated the emotional win to Varga, who was taken to hospital in Stuttgart for treatment and was by then in a stable condition. Writing on Instagram, Bournemouth left-back Kerkez said: “Proud of everyone and thankful for the support in the stadium and the country! Our brother will be all right because he is strong.”
Hungary released a statement on Monday morning to provide an update to Varga's status. "Several bones in Barnabas Varga's face were broken during the collision during the match, and he also suffered a concussion," they said. "The Ferencvaros striker is most likely to undergo surgery. He spends the night in the hospital in Stuttgart. The whole team is rooting for him!"
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Man of the match Roland Sallai said: “It was a terrible moment to see him like that. He’ll have to go through a minor operation, but we cross our fingers for him that he can return. Naturally, it was a terrible incident. Of course, we were fighting for him in the remaining minutes and this win is dedicated to him.”
Hungary’s players were visibly upset by the injury to their team-mate, but they managed to rally to pick up their first points of Euro 2024 and give themselves a chance of progressing to the knockout stages as one of the best third-placed sides. Manager Marco Rossi spoke about Varga in his post-match press conference.
Dominik Szoboszlai wore Barnabas Varga's shirt after the win (Crystal Pix/MB Media/Getty Images)“What I heard from the players is that Barney looked unconscious," he said. "Everybody was really worried about his condition and worried that the doctors arrived a bit late. Probably they didn’t realise it was a dangerous situation.
“We can say now that Barney is not under any kind of risk. Probably, he will be operated on in the coming hours because he suffered a fracture here [points to cheek], but he’s healthy. Of course, if we will go through the competition he will not be any more part of the team.”
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