It was just another day at the office for Lionel Messi against PSV Eindhoven this week.

The Barcelona star delivered another virtuoso performance, bagging himself a goal and an assist as the Blaugrana booked themselves a place in the Champions League knockout stages.

Messi's goal drew widespread praise across social media and for good reason, with the 31-year-old showing unbelievable ball-control before finishing delightfully at the near post.

Gary Lineker couldn't help tweeting after the goal, writing: "You know I don't like to mention Messi too often but he does play a game of which the rest of us are not familiar."

It was a moment of inspiration from Messi who was enjoying an immaculate evening in the Netherlands, galloping forward at every opportunity and rarely being losing possession.

Messi's performance vs PSV

His assist, on the other hand, won't be going down in the history-books with Messi turning provider for Gerard Pique virtue of a bizarre free-kick delivery.

What looked like a cross from Messi seemed to be struck far too shallow, but still found its way to Pique who converted to fire Barcelona into a 2-0 lead.

Surprisingly, though, Pique seemed to reveal after the game that the whole set-piece was planned and perhaps it was another disguised moment of genius from Messi.

Messi admits to accidental assist

According to ESPN, the Barcelona defender claimed the move had been 'rehearsed' but Messi had a different account of events.

Messi - modest as ever - went on to clarify that his free-kick wasn't planned at all and it was complete luck that Pique was able to score from it.

"It wasn't rehearsed, that's a lie," Messi informed Movistar. "It was a poorly taken free kick, but luckily Pique was there. He saw [the ball] and he took advantage of the situation." 

Ah Lionel, you could have claimed it!

And let's face it, football fans wouldn't be at all surprised if Messi had the skill to deliberately hook a low-free kick into the feet of Barcelona's runners.

It even prompted some rather amusing reaction on Twitter with one fan writing: "If Messi was a fireman: 'Technically, I wasn’t the one who saved the people from the fire today. It was the water.'"

Nevertheless, Messi just isn't the kind of person to lie about these things and just had to admit that the free-kick was poorly struck.

It's not everyday you hear Messi and 'poorly struck' in the same sentence.

Obviously, though, it all worked out for Barcelona in the end and Pique's strike proved to be crucial with PSV giving themselves hope through a late Luuk de Jong strike.

So, football fans will be seeing more of Messi in the Champions League this season and his form in Europe has been absolutely devastating.

When even his mistakes are turning into assists, you know the opposition are in trouble.

Do you think Barcelona will win the Champions League this season? Have your say in the comments section below.