Manchester City boss Mark Hughes was pleased with Martin Petrov's playing comeback this week.

Hughes was happy to reveal Petrov will be in his squad to face Hamburg, having come through a reserve team outing at Newcastle on Monday night.

"The plan was to give him 45 minutes," said Hughes.

"He came through that and looked impressive.

"You forget what quality he can produce, and he looked in good nick.

"He was blowing a bit, which is fairly obvious given how long he has been out. But he is an option for us."

The Bulgarian has been limited to just eight appearances this season after first sustaining a hamstring injury, then a cruciate knee ligament injury on international duty that required an autumn operation.

"When I came in as manager, the fact that Martin was available to me was a big plus," said Hughes.

"I had watched him from afar the year before and saw the quality he could produce. The opportunity to work with him was something I was looking forward to.

"Unfortunately we lost him very quickly, which was a big blow to us.

"When you see what he can produce you can see what we have lacked on occasion this season."