“It’s so important, being able to switch off and spend some time with your family, just trying to forget about football because it is an intense period of time,” the Scotland captain Liverpoolfc.com.

“If you can even switch off for two or three days then it’s perfect. I am sure in the back of our minds all of us will have the final, you can’t help that, but we’ll try and switch off as best we can and then we’ll go full steam ahead into the next couple of weeks.”

He added: “It wasn’t the best on Sunday and I could feel it during the game, but I wanted to play and was desperate to get out there.

“The adrenaline kept me going and the fact a lot of us have played through pain, not just me. Luckily now we’ve got a couple of weeks to recover and get our bodies right – and we’ll know we’ll be as fresh as we can be going into the final.

“I was happy with where I finished the season last year, I was getting better and better, so there was a wee bit more pressure on me this season. It was about me finding that level and showing I can be consistently good – and I think I’ve managed to do that.

“This season was big for me, I’ve managed to kick on and I’ve got a few years left in me, so hopefully I can take it into next season. Hopefully there’s one good performance left in me this season, then I’ll rest and then be fully concentrated on trying to put in the same performances next season and get the same kind of results.”

He continued: “We can’t look back on good memories quite just yet, but time is the best healer; the last couple of days have been tough, but when we look back in the summer I am sure we’ll be looking back on a fantastic season.

“We still have one more big game, but the Premier League season has come to an end and it was disappointing because we didn’t achieve what we wanted to achieve, but with the points tally and the way we went about our business, I think we can be proud of that.”