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.

PSG vs Saint-Etienne

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.

Messi's superb vision vs Saint-Etienne

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:

Messi doubles his money with second assist

And the Argentine superstar decided to follow it up with another assist that felt more typically Messi for showcasing the sort of footwork that sees him revered as one of the greatest dribblers in history.

That's because the PSG forward showed gorgeously intricate control to break his way into the penalty area, before laying the ball on a plate for Mbappe to double his money with a clinical finish - give it a watch:

Mbappe's gorgeous Trivela assist

However, as you're probably gathering by the fact that Mbappe had scored a brace by this point in the game, the student was shining just as much as the master.

In fact, Mbappe arguably produced the very best assist of the game by channelling his inner Ricardo Quaresma with the kind of outside-of-the-boot pass that always gets footballing hipsters throwing cappuccinos in the air.

In Mbappe's defence, it wasn't all for show because the stunningly strange curve on the ball allowed it to penetrate the six-yard box and set up a goal for Danilo Pereira that you can watch in all its glory here:

So, all in all, it was an entertaining night of assists in the 'City of Light'.

A stellar night for Messi and Mbappe

Not only did Mbappe rack up more than enough goal contributions to get Real Madrid fans weak at the knees, but Messi strutted his stuff with two fabulous assists to help his PSG career pick up steam.

As such, while there's no escaping the fact that Mbappe, Messi and Neymar haven't been the dream team that they were touted to be, the PSG trio aren't exactly short of individual genius when they want to show it.

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And it just so happens that Saint-Etienne learnt that fact in particularly cruel style. Sorry lads.