Brendan Rodgers has revealed that his players are so driven to bring success to the club that he has to fight with them to take a rest.

The Parkhead squad have the Scottish Cup Final against Aberdeen on May 27th before a significant percentage of the Celtic squad will then report for international duty across the globe.

There could be seven Scots in Gordon Strachan’s squad for the World Cup qualifier against England and as such Rodgers had sought to give some players a break during the season.

Celtic will regroup on June 19th as they look to begin their preparations for the UEFA Champions League qualifiers with the shortness of the summer holiday the reason why some players will be offered time off.

However, the Hoops boss has insisted that his players do not want to down tools in a season that could deliver only the fourth domestic Treble in the club’s history.

“This season I’ve said to one or two players at times ‘listen I want to give you that period of break’ and they didn’t want it,” said Rodgers. ““They didn’t want it. They wanted to work, to still be here.

“I suppose the environment we’ve fostered here, the spirit’s good, they want to be in here, they want to prepare themselves, and that’s quite unique really. It will be each individual club’s plan, but for us, we periodize the full season.

“You have to look at each individual and make sure there is a plan, so we’ve created that quite a while ago. So the players know where they are at in terms of their recovery and rest. That’s vital. I’ve got to say this is a group with no ego.

‘We periodise the whole season so we know when the rest is needed and required. That allows us to get the players at a good level.

“We know what our objective is for pre-season – qualify for the Champions League and gain our football fitness.

“I can only talk about my own players. They deserve a rest. They’ve been incredible and once the season finishes some of them will have some days before they meet up for internationals.

“Then we are back in on the 19th with some back on the 22nd. How our work’s periodized they will be ready and flying for pre-season.”

Meanwhile, Rodgers has urged Leigh Griffiths to seize his chance in the coming weeks with Moussa Dembele sidelined with a hamstring strain.

Griffiths against Rangers this season at Ibrox on Saturday afternoon and Rodgers believes the players has lost none of his confidence despite what has been a difficult campaign for him.

“You don’t score 40 goals and not know where the net is,” said the Celtic manager. “That’s the beauty of it.

“Domestically he’s top quality in terms of his ability. So there’s a little period now for him to step up and show his qualities.

“He has that (swagger) anyway. He’s a good lad. He understands, and it’s difficult for strikers in particular, but he knows how much I appreciate him and how much I want him to be the very best player he can be. So we have to help him through periods when he’s not playing.”