Serie A title race loses significance after Fiorentina player collapses on field

MILAN (AP) — The Italian league title race didn’t seem so important on Sunday after a player collapsed on the field during a Serie A match.

League leader Napoli had won 1-0 at Torino earlier in the day and was waiting to see how its rivals would fare, especially Fiorentina and Inter Milan, which were playing each other later Sunday and were just four points behind.

However, Fiorentina midfielder Edoardo Bove fell to the ground in the 16th minute of the match, which was abandoned shortly afterward with the scoreline at 0-0.

The 22-year-old Italian was swiftly stretchered off to an ambulance and taken to hospital, where he is in a medically induced coma.

Fiorentina said initial tests have “ruled out acute damage to the central nervous system and the cardio-respiratory system” and that Bove will be re-evaluated in the next 24 hours.

Fiorentina players were distraught on the field and were comforted by staff members as well as Inter players. Several were openly sobbing before both teams filed off the field.

Napoli will end the weekend still top of a tight Serie A table.

Scott McTominay scored the only goal of the match in the first half as Napoli pulled away from one of its closest rivals as Lazio lost 3-1 at relegation-threatened Parma.

Lazio stayed on 28 points along with Atalanta, Inter and Fiorentina, while Napoli moved onto 32. Atalanta visits Roma on Monday.

Juventus has 26 points after substitute Ante Rebic leveled in stoppages to snatch a 1-1 draw for Lecce.

It was an entertaining match at Torino where Napoli broke the deadlock in the 31st minute. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia kept possession as he made his way into the area from the left before laying the ball off to McTominay for the Scotland midfielder to drive into the near bottom corner.

Torino should have leveled almost immediately when Saul Coco just had to bundle the ball into an empty net from close range but somehow fell over it instead.

Napoli had numerous chances to extend its advantage but Vanja Milinkovic-Savic was in impressive form in the Torino goal.

Lazio’s run of seven straight wins had been brought to an end by a draw against Ludogorets in the Europa League midweek and it was worse on Sunday as it fell to its first loss since October.

Lazio had two goals disallowed and a penalty revoked after a VAR check in a frustrating first half for the visitors.

Parma inched four points clear of the drop zone with the win.

Patrick Vieira recorded his first win as Genoa coach with a 2-0 victory at Udinese, which played almost the entire match with 10 men.

Udinese defender Isaak Touré’s match lasted just 120 seconds before he was sent off for elbowing Genoa’s Alessandro Zanoli in the face.

Andrea Pinamonti fired Genoa in front in the 13th minute and an own-goal from Udinese defender Lautaro Giannetti in the second half all but sealed the result.

Vieira was hired during the international break to replace the fired Alberto Gilardino and his debut last week ended in a 2-2 draw against Cagliari.

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An ambulance enters the field as Fiorentina's Edoardo Bove, injured, is surrounded by players during the Serie A soccer match between Fiorentina and Inter at the Artemio Franchi Stadium in Florence, Italy, Sunday Dec. 1, 2024. The match was suspended and finally postponed as the injures appeared to be serious. (Massimo Paolone/LaPresse via AP)

Emotional players comfort each other as Fiorentina's Edoardo Bove, injured, is taken to hospital during the Serie A soccer match between Fiorentina and Inter at the Artemio Franchi Stadium in Florence, Italy, Sunday Dec. 1, 2024. The match was suspended and finally postponed. (Massimo Paolone/LaPresse via AP)

Fiorentina's Edoardo Bove, injured, is surrounded by players during the Serie A soccer match between Fiorentina and Inter at the Artemio Franchi Stadium in Florence, Italy, Sunday Dec. 1, 2024 (Massimo Paolone/LaPresse via AP)

An ambulance enters the field as Fiorentina's Edoardo Bove, injured, is surrounded by players during the Serie A soccer match between Fiorentina and Inter at the Artemio Franchi Stadium in Florence, Italy, Sunday Dec. 1, 2024. The match was suspended and finally postponed as the injures appeared to be serious. (Massimo Paolone/LaPresse via AP)

Emotional players comfort each others as Fiorentina's Edoardo Bove, injured, is taken to hospital during the Serie A soccer match between Fiorentina and Inter at the Artemio Franchi Stadium in Florence, Italy, Sunday Dec. 1, 2024. The match was suspended and finally postponed. (Massimo Paolone/LaPresse via AP)

Parma's Dennis Man scores during the Serie A soccer match between Parma and Lazio at Parma's Ennio Tardini Stadium, Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024. (Gianni Santandrea/LaPresse via AP)

Parma's Dennis Man celebrates a goal during the Serie A soccer match between Parma and Lazio at Parma's Ennio Tardini Stadium, Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024. (Gianni Santandrea/LaPresse via AP)

Torino's Adam Masina and Torino's Saul Coco battles for the ball with Napoli's Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa during the Serie A soccer match between Torino FC and SSC Napoli the Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino in Turin, north west Italy, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (Alberto Gandolfo/LaPresse via AP)

Napoli's head coach Antonio Conte during the Serie A soccer match between Torino FC and SSC Napoli the Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino in Turin, north west Italy, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (Fabio Ferrari/LaPresse via AP)

Napoli's Scott McTominay celebrates after scoring his side's first goal during the Serie A soccer match between Torino FC and SSC Napoli the Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino in Turin, north west Italy, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (Fabio Ferrari/LaPresse via AP)

Napoli's Scott McTominay, left, celebrates after scoring his side's first goal during the Serie A soccer match between Torino FC and SSC Napoli the Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino in Turin, north west Italy, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (Fabio Ferrari/LaPresse via AP)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden pardoned his son, Hunter, on Sunday night, sparing the younger Biden a possible prison sentence for federal felony gun and tax convictions and reversing his past promises not to use the extraordinary powers of the presidency for the benefit of his family members.

The Democratic president had previously said he would not pardon his son or commute his sentence after his convictions in the two cases in Delaware and California. The move comes weeks before Hunter Biden was set to receive his punishment after his trial conviction in the gun case and guilty plea on tax charges, and less than two months before President-elect Donald Trump is set to return to the White House.

It caps a long-running legal saga for the president’s son, who publicly disclosed he was under federal investigation in December 2020 — a month after Joe Biden’s 2020 victory.

In June, Biden categorically ruled out a pardon or commutation for his son, telling reporters as his son faced trial in the Delware gun case, “I abide by the jury decision. I will do that and I will not pardon him.”

As recently as Nov. 8, days after Trump's victory, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre ruled out a pardon or clemency for the younger Biden, saying, “We’ve been asked that question multiple times. Our answer stands, which is no.”

In a statement released Sunday evening, Biden said, “Today, I signed a pardon for my son Hunter,” alleging that the prosecution of his son was politically motivated and a “miscarriage of justice.”

“The charges in his cases came about only after several of my political opponents in Congress instigated them to attack me and oppose my election,” Biden said. “No reasonable person who looks at the facts of Hunter’s cases can reach any other conclusion than Hunter was singled out only because he is my son.”

“I hope Americans will understand why a father and a President would come to this decision,” Biden added, claiming he made the decision this weekend. The president had spent the Thanksgiving holiday in Nantucket, Massachusetts with Hunter and his family.

He was convicted in June in Delaware federal court of three felonies for purchasing a gun in 2018 when, prosecutors said, he lied on a federal form by claiming he was not illegally using or addicted to drugs.

He was set to stand trial in September in the California case accusing him of failing to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes. But he agreed to plead guilty to misdemeanor and felony charges in a surprise move hours after jury selection was set to begin.

Hunter Biden said he was pleading guilty in that case to spare his family more pain and embarrassment after the gun trial aired salacious details about his struggles with a crack cocaine addiction.

The tax charges carry up to 17 years behind bars and the gun charges are punishable by up to 25 years in prison, though federal sentencing guidelines were expected to call for far less time and it was possible he would avoid prison time entirely.

Hunter Biden said in an emailed statement that he will never take for granted the relief granted to him and vowed to devote the life he has rebuilt “to helping those who are still sick and suffering.”

“I have admitted and taken responsibility for my mistakes during the darkest days of my addiction – mistakes that have been exploited to publicly humiliate and shame me and my family for political sport,” the younger Biden said.

A spokesperson for special counsel David Weiss, who brought the cases, did not respond to messages seeking comment Sunday night.

FILE - President Joe Biden, wearing a Team USA jacket and walking with his son Hunter Biden, heads toward Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, July 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

President Joe Biden and son Hunter Biden walk in downtown Nantucket Mass., Friday, Nov. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

President Joe Biden speaks on the South Lawn of the White House during a ceremony to commemorate World AIDS Day with survivors, their families and advocates, Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)