Cruzeiro lost Yannick Bolasie to a rare pancreatic injury after an abdominal blow in the match against Chapecoense, and the forward is out of the Copa do Brasil return leg. He stayed on the pitch until halftime in the 0-0 draw before being replaced by Neto Pessoa, then went straight to a hospital in Chapecó for observation.
The timing matters because Cruzeiro now heads into the deciding match without one of the players it expected to have available. The medical department confirmed a contused trauma in the pancreatic region and said Bolasie will be away from activities for some weeks, but did not give a precise recovery date. That leaves the club planning for the Mineirão while a key attacker remains under care.
Bolasie's absence lands in a match window already crowded with Cruzeiro storylines. Felipe Melo said Lucas Romero is the kind of player who is almost always above a six in performance, steady enough that he rarely turns in a bad game, while Kaio Jorge answered criticism on social media after the draw by pushing back at the idea that scoring is simple. He added weight to that response with 21 goals in the 2025 Campeonato Brasileiro, five goals in the Copa do Brasil, and 13 goals in 30 matches this season.
That is the friction for Cruzeiro: it is still viewed as the favorite to advance, but it must do so while adjusting to the loss of Bolasie. Rafael Lacerda said Bolasie was sent to the hospital and that Cruzeiro had lost an important player, then noted that Neto Pessoa came on to preserve the team's height for the aerial game. The attack may not be rebuilt around one replacement, but the absence of Bolasie forces Cruzeiro to solve a problem it did not want before a knockout match that now carries the season's sharpest edge.
For Bolasie, the next step is simpler and slower: stay under observation, recover from a rare injury, and wait out the weeks away from activity. For Cruzeiro, the return leg at the Mineirão arrives with the same target and a thinner margin for error.
