Fc Cincinnati's Nick Hagglund In Atlanta Hospital After Collapsed Lung Sunday Night

FC Cincinnati Nick Hagglund suffered two broken ribs Sunday night in Atlanta after being struck by an Atlanta United player during the team’s 4-2 loss at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

The club released an update on Hagglund’s condition Monday. According to the club, one of Hagglund’s ribs was out of position, which caused a collapsed lung. He had a procedure Sunday night to manage the lung and will undergo another procedure to address the rib fractures.

The club said Hagglund is awake and in good spirits at the hospital in Atlanta accompanied by FC Cincinnati medical staff. He is expected to make a full recovery and will travel back to Cincinnati when it is safe to do so.

In a statement, the club said “FC Cincinnati are grateful for the actions of the FCC athletic training staff to quickly identify and react to the injury, as well as the physicians and staff at Atlanta United FC, Emory Health Care and Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta for their work. The club wishes Nick a speedy recovery and will provide further updates when appropriate.”

Hagglund was injured in the 10th minute of play after he fell hard to the ground following a collision with Atlanta forward Emmanuel Latte Lath.

Replays showed Latte Lath reached out both hands to touch Hagglund as both of them were pursuing the ball. Hagglund fell forward and it appeared his chest took the brunt of the impact.

Hagglund’s injury has caused some outrage among the FC Cincinnati fanbase, with some on social media hoping that Latte Lath gets suspended. Hagglund, a Cincinnati native, has been part of the team since its first Major League Soccer season in 2019.

No foul was given to Latte Lath at the time. In a written response to media after the game, the Professional Referee Organization said that head match referee Guido Gonzales Jr. “saw the situation clearly and deemed it not to be a foul.” The play was later checked by video-assisted review for a potential red card to Latte Lath, and no card was issued.   

Head coach Pat Noonan said in a postgame press conference that he hadn’t seen a replay of the collision at the time.

“There’s nothing going on in that area of the field, where Nick's moving and with the ball. But I haven't seen the way the impact happened,” Noonan said. “Is it kind of a freak incident? I think you can kind of see where humans are, players are in and around you, to avoid something like that happening. But how malicious it was, I don't know. But it was obviously enough force where Nick's not expecting it, and now he's punished for it."

Cincinnati (9-4-2, 29 points) has home games against FC Dallas Wednesday night, May 28 and D.C. United Saturday night at TQL Stadium.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: FC Cincinnati's Nick Hagglund still in Atlanta hospital after injury