Edoardo Bove's harrowing and sudden collapse caused Fiorentina's Serie A clash with champions Inter Milan to be suspended on Sunday, as Scott McTominay kept Napoli top in a 1-0 win at Torino.
Midfielder Bove was rushed away in an ambulance as players and fans looked on in horror following his sudden fall with 16 minutes on the clock and the game still goalless.
The players and officials, some of whom were openly sobbing, left the field with the match then called off and rescheduled for "an as-yet undetermined date", as happened when Evan Ndicka fell in a similar manner during Roma's match at Udinese in April.
Sky Sport report that Bove subsequently regained consciousness at the Careggi hospital which is close to Fiorentina's Stadio Artemio Franchi in Florence.
The 22-year-old's fall reminded fans of tragic former captain Davide Astori, who in March 2018 died suddenly in his sleep aged 31 in a hotel before a league match at Udinese.
Goalkeeper David de Gea said "God please" on social media where a number of clubs, including Roma from where he was loaned to Fiorentina in August, showed support.
"One of us, we're all with you. Forza Edo!" Roma said.
Serie A confirmed to AFP that Sunday's late match between Lecce and Juventus, set to kick off at 2045 local time (1945 GMT), will be played.
Napoli stay top
Napoli are four points ahead of the chasing pack thanks to McTominay's neat finish in the 31st minute following a trademark dribble into the area from Khvicha Kvaratskhelia.
McTominay's winner was his third Serie A goal since signing for Napoli in the summer and the Scotland midfielder is playing a key role in his new team's bid for a fourth Italian league title.
Napoli would have left Turin with a heftier goal haul had Torino goalkeeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic not pulled off a series of top class saves.
The Serbia 'keeper kept out a Romelu Lukaku backheel and Kvaratskhelia's looping header before McTominay broke the deadlock, and he got down brilliantly to stop both Matias Olivera's close range header in the 65th minute and Giovanni Simeone in stoppage time.
"When you have the chances to close out the match and you don't you need to be very careful, because a corner or a free-kick can change things," said Conte to DAZN.
"We attacked them with aggression, much more than usual and it was only Milinkovic-Savic's performance that stopped us from scoring more."
Atalanta can move back to within a point of Napoli with a win at Roma on Monday night.
Lazio lose ground
Lazio have lost ground after a frustrating defeat at Parma which was inflicted by an early Denis Man finish, Anas Haj Mohamed's first Serie A goal and a stoppage-time strike from Enrico Delprato after Valentin Castellanos had halved the deficit for the away side.
Marco Baroni's Lazio, who are fifth and level on 28 points with Inter, Fiorentina and Atalanta, thought they had taken the lead in the second minute through Nicolo Rovella before the strike was ruled out for a foul by the Italy midfielder.
Rovella then handed Parma the lead when he rolled a sloppy pass across his own area stright to Man, who gobbled up the chance to net his fourth goal of the season.
Castellanos then had a goal chalked off for offside before Lazio were awarded, and then denied via a VAR check, a penalty on the stroke of half-time.
Lazio came out on the front foot after the break but Haj Mohamed's beautiful curling effort -- in his first start in Italy's top flight -- doubled the hosts lead in the 53rd minute.
Castellanos' tap-in after a mix-up between Zion Suzuki and Emanuele Valeri was followed by intense pressure from Lazio but Delprato ensured that Parma would move up to 11th, four points above the relegation zone, after being sent clean through by Gabriel Charpentier.
Patrick Vieira won his first match as Genoa coach with a 2-0 success at 10-man Udinese which moved his new team three points away from the Serie A relegation zone.