PSG: Lionel Messi leaves whole stadium clapping as he assists Neymar & Mbappe

Lionel Messi is seriously cooking this season.

It’s well publicised that the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner didn’t necessarily hit the ground running in his first year at Paris Saint-Germain, but it looks like he’s just come down with one of the best cases of second-season-syndrome that we’ve ever seen.

Simply put, PSG have flown out the blocks under Christophe Galtier’s stewardship and the clearest area of improvement has come in attack with Messi, Kylian Mbappe and Neymar finally starting to gel.

The French champions opened up their Ligue 1 season by battering Clermont 5-0, routing Montpellier 5-2 and annihilating Lille 7-1 with only a 1-1 draw with AS Monaco at the weekend halting their charge.

However, it was normal service resumed on Wednesday night as the Parisians returned to winning ways with a 3-0 triumph at Toulouse that showcased exactly how much Messi means business this season.

The scoresheet might not have been adorned with his name this time around, but the Barcelona icon once again leaned into his later-career role of a playmaker by pulling the strings for those around him.

As such, the 35-year-old finished up his night’s work at the Stadium de Toulouse with two assists to his name, turning provider for both Mbappe and Neymar to maintain PSG’s lead at the top of the table.

So let’s walk our way through Messi’s latest impressive performance in 2022/23 by kicking off with his assist for Neymar, which was certainly the lesser of the pair but still deserving of praise.

After all, it was the deftness and vision of Messi’s cute pass into the penalty area that rounded off a slick team move and played Neymar, who has been in frankly terrifying form this season, clear through on goal.

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