With 23 goals and five assists, it's not exactly been a bad season for Lionel Messi, has it? 

The Argentine's extraordinarily high standards set panic buttons ringing in the first couple of months of the campaign when he wasn't delivering his very best performances.

His transfer saga is still looming large at Camp Nou and after handing in a formal request in the summer, his form was inevitably going to take a slight dip. 

Messi has since put all that behind him, at least on the pitch, and a midweek brace against Elche provided a further hint that he's back somewhere closer to his best. 

Could he even continue to dominate La Liga for another couple of years? According to Marca, there is still a chance he could actually stay at Barcelona against the odds. 

That's because his future is dependent on the outcome of the club's presidential elections in March. 

In spite of his eye-watering salary and Barca's financial problems, both of which have been well-documented enough, the Blaugrana would dearly love him to stay. 

Ronald Koeman will know better than anyone how much his side depend on the 33-year-old and even if he isn't registering hatfuls of assists, Barcelona often lack any real creativity without him. 

But perhaps the best way of illustrating that point is by checking out a compilation of all his 'pre-assists' this season and it shows just how unselfish he's been. 

Some of those passes are just exquisite. 

Unfortunately, in spite of Messi's own brilliance, Barcelona are still struggling right now. 

As well as sitting third in La Liga (and leaders Atletico Madrid have a game in hand), Koeman's men have also left themselves with a mountain to climb in the Champions League after losing 4-1 at home to PSG. 

The first leg was dominated by talk of Kylian Mbappe, but let's not talk about a changing of the guard too soon when Messi is still producing standout moments week in, week out.