Departing Celtic boss Ronny Deila paid tribute to Scott Brown after confirming the midfielder will miss the last three matches of the season with inflammation of both hamstrings.
The 30-year-old Scotland skipper is also set to sit out the post-season friendlies against Italy and France as he takes a much-needed rest.
Ahead of the visit of Aberdeen on Sunday, where the Hoops could confirm their fifth successive Premiership title win, Deila revealed that defender Dedryck Boyata is also out for the remainder of the campaign with a hamstring problem.
The former Stromsgodset boss said: "His (Brown's) two hamstrings have inflammation and need rest, there has been too much load over a long time.
"He was injured for three months at the beginning of the year and has pushed himself through a lot of games now and to get the best out of him for Celtic and for Scotland I think it is important now to give him a rest.
"He has been unbelievably important. On the pitch and in training he is unbelievable, he is always at 100 per cent.
"When I talked to the players the first day I said we need players that give 100 per cent and he has been a good ambassador for that. He can handle a lot of pain as well and he is also a leader in good times and bad times."
Deila will leave Parkhead at the end of the season with two successive title wins, the second of which could be rubber-stamped against the Dons who go into the game nine points and 35 goals behind the league leaders.
Attention has turned to where Deila will ply his trade next season and he has been linked with Danish side Brondby but asked if there had been any contact, he said: "There is a lot of things going on in football and now it is easy to link people to different jobs.
"I have three games left at Celtic and after that there is going to be a good vacation and we will see what happens in the future.
"I am really looking forward to Sunday, hopefully there will be a lot of people in the stadium for a game against the two best teams in Scotland. We will do everything we can to get three points."