Top striker dies during football match after being hit with the ball on the chest

– Croatian footballer, Bruno Boban, has collapsed and died after being struck in the chest by the ball during a football match

– Bruno plays for Croatian third division side Marsonia

– Emergency workers spent almost an hour trying to revive the 25-year-old, before he was pronounced dead on the pitch

Croatian footballer, Bruno Boban has collapsed and died after being struck in the chest by the ball during a football match.

Emergency workers spent almost an hour trying to revive the 25-year-old, before he was pronounced dead on the pitch.

Bruno who plays for Marsonia’s was just 15 minutes into the game against Slavonija Pozega when a player smashed the ball into his chest from close range.

Play continued until Bruno, the Croatian third division’s top scorer, suddenly fell to the ground unconscious.

When they realised that something was horribly wrong, players from both sides rushed to his aid as those on the touchline called an ambulance.

His team-mates and rivals struggled to fight back tears as medics pronounced him dead at the scene.

The Index news website, www.index.hr, which reported the cause of death as a heart attack, citing an autopsy, said Boban’s funeral was scheduled for later on Monday.

Juventus striker Mario Mandzukic, who used to play for the club, while reacting to the death of the striker said: “Rest in peace Bruno and my deepest condolences to the Boban family as well as to all his friends and team-mates.”

plusmilang.com previously reported that the entire Italian football fraternity have been thrown into deep mourning on Sunday morning, March 4, following the untimely death of Fiorentina defender Davide Astori.

He was said to have been found dead in his room inside the hotel where he was with Fiorentina ahead of their Sunday’s clash with Udinese.