“It was very dramatic”
Opponent probably saves ex-Leipziger’s life
03/01/2022 08:57
A dramatic incident occurs in a game in the Austrian Bundesliga: In the final minutes of the game between Austria Wien and Wolfsberger AC, it is a matter of life and death. It is probably thanks to a player that things went smoothly.
A zygomatic arch fracture, a skull fracture and a broken jaw: Georg Teigl’s balance sheet on Sunday afternoon reads badly. Real bad. The fact that the professional soccer player from Austria Vienna survived the game against Wolfsberger AC in the Austrian Bundesliga is probably mainly due to opponent Luka Lochoshvili. In the final minutes of the game, he became the “worst lifesaver” of Teigl, as his wife wrote in an emotional Instagram post.
In the 88th minute of the game, Teigl, who had played in the Bundesliga for RB Leipzig and later for FC Augsburg, crashed unhappily with Nikolas Veratschnig from Wolfsberg – and fell unconscious on the ground. The Austrian lay motionless on the ground when Lochoshvili rushed over and started the probably life-saving measures. The Georgian was with Teigl much earlier than the doctors who were vehemently waved over by players from both teams. He has “some experience with situations like this. I opened his mouth and I think I pulled out his tongue at the last second,” Lochoshvili later explained to Sky Austria. Teigl regained consciousness quickly and was able to leave the pitch on his own two feet, supported by supervisors.
In the hours after the game, the club announced that Teigl’s “injuries weren’t life-threatening, thank God.” Big thanks go “once again to the WAC players Luka Lochoshvili and Christopher Wernitznig, who recognized the situation immediately and provided first aid!” The ailing Teigl turned to the quick-witted opponent the day after the game: “THANK YOU @lukaloch for your quick reaction, your intervention may have even saved my life,” Teigl wrote. And added: “I’ll be back soon”.
“I think that in all sport, that was the most important action on the pitch today,” said Wolfsberg’s German coach Robin Dutt after the game. Austria’s coach Manfred Schmid agrees. “It was very dramatic. One can only congratulate Lochoshvili on his efforts and say thank you very much.”