Corinthians striker has thigh issue, doubt for rest of the season | OneFootball

Corinthians hosted Athletico-PR on Thursday night (30) at Neo Química Arena in a match valid for the 21st round of the 2026 Brazilian Championship, and could only manage a 0-0 draw. With the result, the club from Parque São Jorge moved up, provisionally, to eighth place with 28 points – seven wins, eight draws, and six defeats – with 22 goals scored and 20 conceded.

In addition to the negative result and the worrying situation involving midfielder Zakaria Labyad, Corinthians may have to deal with another absence for the rest of the season. That is because Yuri Alberto, Timão’s top scorer this season with eight goals and four assists in 33 matches, was substituted in the 33rd minute of the second half, after coming on for Dieguinho at halftime, feeling a twinge in the back of his right thigh.

Photo: Reproduction/Premiere

The incident in question happened when the No. 9 tried to start an attack for Timão from midfield. Midfielder Rodrigo Garro came on from the bench in his place. Earlier this season, in February, the No. 9 was diagnosed with a grade 2 injury to the biceps femoris in his thigh during a win over São Bernardo FC away from home in the Paulista Championship.

It is worth noting that, at the moment, Timão has the following players in the medical department: Hugo Farias (in physical transition after recovering from knee cruciate ligament surgery) and Matheus Bidu (pubic pain, did not train on Wednesday), defensive midfielder Alex Santana (pubic pain), midfielder Vitinho (surgery on the meniscus of his left knee), as well as forwards Kayke Ferrari (recovering from cruciate ligament surgery) and Pedro Raul (pubic pain).

Yuri Alberto arrived at Corinthians in mid-2022, initially on loan from Zenit of Russia. At the beginning of 2023, he was signed permanently in a deal involving five players – Ivan, Robert Renan, Du Queiroz, Gustavo Mantuan, and Pedrinho. Since then, he has recorded 82 goals and 23 assists in 240 matches (205 as a starter), with 106 wins, 64 draws, and 70 defeats – a 53.1% success rate.

He is the top scorer in the history of Neo Química Arena, inaugurated in 2014, with 51 goals. In addition, Yuri Alberto is also the team’s leading scorer in the 21st century. In 2024, he enjoyed the most prolific season of his career, scoring 31 goals – 15 of them in the Brasileirão, where he was the top scorer and instrumental in the team’s surge (from the relegation zone to the Copa Libertadores qualifiers).

Last year, he played a decisive role in the club’s Campeonato Paulista (2025) and Copa do Brasil (2025) titles, against Palmeiras and Flamengo respectively, scoring goals in both finals. At the start of 2026, he also got on the scoresheet against Flamengo in the Supercopa do Brasil.

Corinthians, with Yuri Alberto likely unavailable, will return to action next Sunday (2) at 7:30 p.m. (Brasília time) at Beira-Rio Stadium against Internacional in the first leg of the Copa do Brasil round of 16. For the match, coach Fernando Diniz may improvise some players in the area or call on Gui Negão or Pedro Raul, who missed Thursday’s (30) match with pubic pain. The former has not played for the senior team since March 22.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.