Petrov boost for Hughes

MARTIN PETROV could return for Manchester City in tomorrow’s UEFA Cup quarter–final with Hamburg.

The Bulgarian has been missing since August after suffering a cruciate knee ligament injury on international duty but came through a 45–minute reserve-team appearance at Newcastle on Monday without a problem and will be included in Mark Hughes’ squad.

The manager said: “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.”

Wayne Bridge, Benjani Mwaruwari and Stephen Ireland will all travel to Germany, although Ireland seems highly unlikely to figure after sustaining an ankle injury in training.