Barcelona, Nov 4 (IANS): FC Barcelona coach Luis Enrique believes star striker Lionel Messi's recovery is proceeding as expected but offered no update on when the the 28-year-old is expected to return to action.

The Argentina captain, who has been sidelined with a knee injury since the end of September, was expected to get fit to face Real Madrid on November 21.

But reports in Spain over the weekend suggested Messi has suffered a setback in his recovery and would miss the "Clasico" match against Real Madrid.

However, Enrique appears to be unconcerned over the progress of his star's rehabilitation.

"I have no news. He's recovering quite normally for a player with that kind of injury. Every player has a different recovery process to go through but as far as I'm aware he is progressing well, as any player would," Enrique was quoted as saying by goal.com on Tuesday.

Enrique was then asked whether he felt Neymar had embraced his role as a leader of the team in Messi's absence, to which he replied, "This is a question I've not been asked yet! When we have Messi we have certain resources we like to exploit, but I always ask the players to do what they can without relying on others."