Lionel Messi was purring with two sumptuous assists for Mbappe during PSG vs Saint-Etienne

Lionel Messi was really in the mood for Paris Saint-Germain during their Ligue 1 clash with Saint-Etienne on Saturday night.

It’s no secret that the 34-year-old’s transition to life at the Parc des Princes hasn’t been without its teething problems, but there’s good reason to think that this weekend marked one of his finest PSG performances yet.

In fact, there was plenty for Mauricio Pochettino to feel chuffed about in general because his side looked all of their world-class quality once Denis Bouanga gave them a wake-up call by opening the scoring.

Instead of crumbling as they did last time out in the 3-1 defeat to Nantes, the French giants responded by putting their foot on the accelerator with a series of fabulous goals rustling the net.

It was a particularly exciting night for footballing purists who love a stunning pass or flash of creativity, too, with arguably PSG’s assists against Saint-Etienne topping the goals that rounded them off.

And PSG’s first two strikes on the night – therefore completing the turnaround – came from the magical boot of Messi, which continued his trend of performing better for playmaking than goalscoring in Ligue 1.

First, the Barcelona icon showed stunning vision with the ball at his feet on the right-hand side to pick out Kylian Mbappe’s run in behind while slicing the Saint-Etienne defence down the middle in the process.

It truly was one of those forward-thinking moments where Messi had the whole move mapped out before he even played the pass, so be sure to check out the latest example of his electric footballing brain below:

The vision from Lionel Messi