Lionel Messi's road to recovery is on track.

The Barcelona superstar completed the first of his eight-week absence, which was basically rest along with very light work with team doctors. Now things start for real.

According to reports from Spain, the Argentinean is already off his crutches and will begin his two-week program of physiotherapy, which is the most vital part of the process. If he does well at this part of recovery, his ligament could heal faster and the latter parts of his rehab program will go quicker than expected, which could speed his return.

More details, from Diario Sport:

Now he will progress to more intensive physiotherapy work. His rehabilitiation work will be with physiotherapist Roger Girones. The plan is for Messi to be able to run continuously, within a fortnight. Then he will progress to the crucial stage, where he can be worked back into the group. That will take around two more weeks - which takes us to six. So he would then have one more week to pick up the speed of training annd prepare to return.

The medical team is doing its best to get Messi ready for training two weeks prior to El Clásico against Real Madrid, which would give him plenty of time to prepare for his comeback.

Let's not go ahead of schedule, though. It's better to suffer without him for two months and have him for the rest of the season than to rush his return, have him for just a little bit and then lose him again. Please take care of our Leo.