Atletico Madrid assistant manager German Burgos has paid tribute to "great player" Alessio Cerci after the Italian made his first appearance for the Spanish club in two years on Tuesday night.
Cerci was a second-half substitute in Atletico's 4-1 win over CD Guijuelo at the Vicente Calderon, which saw the Madrid giants book their spot in the last-16 stage of the Copa del Rey.
Despite Cerci's lack of action this season, Burgos has insisted that the striker is "available to the team" and will be considered for selection in the second half of the campaign.
"Alessio's a great player. We saw the fans appreciate him, they cheered every time he touched the ball. He's available to the team. I think we did well," Burgos told reporters.
"We also tried out some different things to what we've been doing. The important thing was to qualify and that the less-regular players got minutes."
Cerci, 29, joined Atletico from Torino in 2014, but struggled to settle in Spain and spent the second half of the 2014-15 campaign on loan at AC Milan, before joining Genoa on loan in January 2016.
Matt Law
