A former striker of the championship was taken to the hospital after a “potentially life-threatening” injury in a Bundesliga degradation match.
Ex-Brentford attacker Philipp Hofmann was involved in a nasty collision with Marvin Pieringer during the 0-0 draw of VfL Bochum in Heidenheim on Friday.
Bochum revealed that the 32-year-old had sustained a rib fracture in his collision, who had seen the rib bour in his rib skin drilling and activated a lung deposit.
Hofmann's injury had called a club statement “potentially life threatening”.
The club said that the German had undergone a small operation through a thoracic drainage to restore lung function.
Bochum added that Hofmann would stay in the hospital for observation and treatment until he was fit to be transported.
He was visited on Saturday morning at the hospital by club managing director Dirk Dufner, who conveyed the best wishes for him to have a quick recovery.
Hofmann played for the bees for two seasons from 2015 to 2017 while they were in the championship and scored four goals in 31 league games.
However, it was not the only pathogenic injury that saw the game.
The goalkeeper Kevin Muller van Heidenheim was also taken to the hospital after a collision of heads with Ibrahima Sissoko while he was clear early in the second half, left him unconscious.
The 34-year-old was placed in the recovery position by teammate Tim Sierleben before the match was stopped for 11 minutes, where privacy screens were set up while he was treated by medical staff on the field.
Muller was then taken to the hospital to receive treatment, with a club statement on Saturday and confirmed that he had suffered a concussion from the incident.
Heidenheim, Frank Schmidt, also confirmed that Muller had regained consciousness on the field before he was taken away for medical checks.
The aimless draw in the game left Bochum bottom of the division at 22 points, while Heidenheim occupied the Play-Off spot relegation in two places and four points above them.
With two games of the season to go, Bochum can at best reach the relegation – play -offs, where they would play the third best team in the Bundesliga 2 – currently Paderborn – to hold their place in the top flight.
In the meantime, Heidenheim are five points of total safety, with Hoffenheim in 15th place that the last Safe League spot takes.
At the top of the table, Bayern Munich was forced to postpone their title celebrations – and the first club trophy of Harry Kane – after a late RB Leipzig equalizer in a 3-3 thriller.