Zenit St. Petersburg forward Hulk has recovered from a thigh injury in time for his side’s crucial Champions League clash at home to Malaga on Wednesday.
The 26-year-old has not played since hurting his thigh in a 2-1 win over FC Rostov on November 2 but the club have confirmed today that the Seleção star is back in training.
An official statement on the club’s website read: “Zenit players who took part in the match on Saturday at Khimki Arena and those who were on the bench are available to the team, including Hulk and Viktor Fayzulin, who took part in the practice.”
Hulk’s recovery was interrupted by the brief kidnapping of his sister Angelica in their home city of Campina Grande this month.
The forward has scored just three times in 11 games since his €50 million (£39.6 million) move to the Petrovsky Stadium from Porto this summer, one of which came in Zenit’s 3-2 Champions League defeat to AC Milan last month.
Zenit must beat Malaga to be sure of keeping a chance of qualifying for the knockout round as any other result will allow second-placed AC Milan to qualify with a win over Anderlecht.
Malaga lead Group C and can only fail to qualify if they lose both of their final two games and all four other results go against them.
Zenit will continue preparations at Udelny Park over the next two days for Wednesday’s game, which is scheduled to kick off at 17:00 BST.
