Arsenal keeper David Ospina has collapsed with a head injury during Napoli’s Serie A clash with Udinese.
The loanee was taken off on a stretcher and was immediately taken to a nearby hospital with model wife Jesica Sterling attending with him.
He was replaced by substitute keeper Alex Meret who has been battling with Ospina for the No.1 shirt at San Paolo Stadium this season.
The original incident occurred early on in the match when he dived out to meet a low cross and collided with Udinese’s Argentinean striker Ignacio Pussetto in the seventh minute.
But Ospina played on for almost half an hour, conceding twice, before falling to the ground in the 44th minute when Napoli’s medical staff rushed onto the pitch to attend for him and he was forced off.
After the initial contact, physios came on and bandaged up his head.
A statement from Napoli said: “He did not lose consciousness, but had a hypotensive crisis resulting from head trauma.
“The CAT scan was negative. Ospina was be transferred to the Pineta Grande Clinic, where he remained under observation for 24 hours.”
Boss Carlo Ancelotti backed the decision of his club doctor: “The doctor assessed him closely, then the conditions got worse. We trusted the evaluation of Dr. De Nicola, who rescued him.
“It is nothing serious they did the tests and they turned out negative. He will have to stay in hospital tonight.”
Ospina was later diagnosed with a head trauma and will be kept under observation at the hospital for between 24 and 48 hours.He was given a CT scan but it came back clear.
The Colombian shot stopper moved to Napoli from the Gunners on a season long loan last summer. Ospina has played 21 times for the Italian side this season, making four clean sheets to help the side to second behind Juventus in Serie A.
He is out of contract at Arsenal at the end of next season, although talks of a new deal has cooled despite Petr Cech retiring at the end of this season.
He is likely to remain at Napoli, who have a £4million clause agreed to make the purchase this summer.German keeper Bernd Leno has excelled as the Gunners’ No.1 since joining last summer.
Napoli boss Carlo Ancelotti has previous said about Ospina’s future: “Ospina was meant to play on Thursday in the Europa League, but wasn’t feeling up to it, so I switched things around and used him against Torino instead.
“Ospina will remain at Napoli next season, regardless of how many games he plays.”
Napoli had taken a two-goal lead thanks to goals from Amin Younes and Jose Callejon but Kevin Lasagna and Seko Fofana hit back to score past Ospina.
Arkadiusz Milik and Dries Mertens both slotted Napoli to victory in the second half but the mood of the match had notably fallen.
Ospina will be eligible to face the Gunners in the Europa League after they were drawn together for the quarter-finals earlier this week.