Brendan Rodgers is hopeful that Callum McGregor will be back in action for Celtic after the international break.

Rumours swirled on social media yesterday that the captain would be out for the remainder of the season.

While nothing has been ruled out, Rodgers insists the Scotland international is aiming to overcome his issue by the end of the month.

The Irishman was speaking after his side's 4-2 victory in the Scottish Cup over Livingston yesterday, with both McGregor and Cameron Carter-Vickers missing through injury.

An exact timeframe can't be put on their returns, but with the derby against Rangers on April 7, Hoops fans will be hoping the key pair are back in the starting line-up.

When asked about the uncertainty over McGregor, Rodgers said: “It always is if you have your top players and your captain not available.

“Of course, there will be other players who can come in, but the level that he brings the game to is beyond what a lot of our players can do. Fingers crossed again we can get to the bottom of that and he’ll be available after the international break.”

Carter-Vickers was an unexpected absentee from Sunday's quarter-final win. 

That's because the club is not willing to take any chances over the US international given his previous record with injuries this season.

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Rodgers added: “We were just going through something very light on Saturday and he felt something in the back of his leg.

“He was okay to continue training but we just didn’t want to take any risk whatsoever with him. As much as he wants to play every game and be there, we had this earlier in the season when he said he was okay, but we ended up losing him for a number of matches.

“Hopefully it’s nothing too serious. We just have to wait and see. If players are fit and available then we can’t stop him going, that’s internationals. He’ll obviously be called up for the USA I’m sure, but we’ll just have to wait and see what the scan result says.”