Despite being stretchered off the pitch in a frightening moment, Hungarian striker Barnabás Varga is in a stable condition at a local hospital, the team confirmed on Sunday evening.
Varga was taken to a local hospital in the second half of Hungary’s 1-0 win over Scotland in Germany on Sunday after colliding with Scotland goalkeeper Angus Gunn. The win kept Hungary’s European Championship hopes alive, while the Scots were officially kicked out of the event before the knockout stages.
Varga went to challenge for a ball in the air after a free kick in the 68th minute of the match, but he collided awkwardly with Gunn in the air in the penalty area. Gunn hit the ball with his right arm to stop Varga, but Varga’s head struck Gunn’s left arm.
Varga immediately fell hard on the field and lay there for several minutes, clearly shaken. He was eventually carried off the field and taken to hospital.
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Mocny cios otrzymał węgierski zawodnik Barnabas Varga – Karetka wzięła Go do szpitala jego stan jest stabilny pic.twitter.com/l2mUEf6k8F— Koneser Unii Europejskiej (@KoneserUnii) June 23, 2024
The Hungarian national team then confirmed on Sunday evening that his condition in hospital was stable. Varga broke several bones in his face and suffered a concussion in the incident. He is likely to undergo surgery in the coming days, which will rule him out for the rest of the 2024 European Championship.
Varga Barnabás arcában több csont is eltört a merkőzésen ütközés során továbbá agyrázkódást is szenvedett. Nagy valószínűséggel műtét vár a @Fradi_HU csatárára. You can invoke the Stuttgart ban. Az egész csapat szorít érte! #csakegyutt #magyarok #SCOHUN
— MLSZ (@MLSZhivatalos) June 23, 2024
Despite losing Varga in the second half, Kevin Csoboth came in and scored the only goal of the match in stoppage time to lift Hungary to a 1–0 win. Hungary earned three points in Group A after defeats to both Germany and Scotland, although they could still reach the knockout stages depending on how the rest of the pool play goes.
“It means everything, obviously we were celebrating with the fans at the time. My voice disappeared a little bit because of all the shouting,” Hungarian midfielder Callum Styles said via ESPN. “Hopefully that’s enough, but we’ve done everything we can now, so we’ll have to wait.”
However, the loss to Scotland officially left the country out of the tournament.
“Tonight is devastating, the boys are absolutely devastated. Yes, but it’s up to us to pick them up and that will happen slowly but surely,” Scotland captain Andy Robertson said via ESPN.
‘But thank you to the country, because we felt everyone was behind us, and we knew the excitement at home – sorry we let you down.’
