Lionel Messi once again showed his class for Paris Saint-Germain by producing an exceptional assist for team-mate Kylian Mbappe on Friday.
The Argentine forward has struck up a decent understanding with his French strike partner during his time at the Parc des Princes and picked him out with a superb long-range pass. Both players started PSG's Ligue 1 clash away at bottom club Angers and Mbappe bagged a brace inside 26 minutes to put his side firmly in command.
PSG opened the scoring just nine minutes in after Messi dropped deep to get the ball before clipping a pass in behind for Juan Bernat to run onto, before the full-back fed Mbappe to finish off his own rebound off the keeper. But Messi saved his best for his next act.
Collecting the ball inside his own half, with only Mbappe ahead of him, Messi charged forward into the centre circle, before curling a beautiful through ball in behind the Angers backline, taking two defenders out of the game. Mbappe was already ahead of his man and kept onside as he raced towards goal, before sidestepping the goalkeeper and side-footing into the empty net.
PSG are on course to win the Ligue 1 title as they boast a considerable gap over second-placed Marseille as the season draws to its conclusion. Mbappe is now top scorer in the division having started the game level with Lille's Jonathan David on 20 goals for the campaign.
Messi is joint-seventh for goals scored, trailing his team-mate on 15, though he leads the way on assists with an impressive 14 in Ligue 1, three ahead of Neymar who has the second-highest tally in the division.
There is still speculation over whether Messi will still be in Paris next season. The 35-year-old's contract is up in June and there has been no indication he will sign an extension.
Messi has offers on the table to join Cristiano Ronaldo in the Saudi Pro League, though it is thought he would prefer to stay in Europe, with an emotional return to Barcelona also being mooted.
His father, Jorge, has been in talks with Barca president Joan Laporta over a potential deal. A big stumbling block is the state of the club's finances, though, with Barcelona needing to trim their current budgets before they can even think about the return of the seven-time Ballon d'Or winner.
LaLiga president Javier Tebas has said: "Barca must take many financial measures to undertake Messi’s registration. They need lot of effort to make it happen.
"Today I don't see his signing as feasible. But there’s a lot of time left, Barca can still make moves to get Leo. We are still awaiting a feasibility plan from Barcelona. They need a big effort to make it happen."
