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Highlights: Magical Messi climbs to 2nd in Europe's assist charts as Mbappe joins Ibrahimovic in PSG history books


 

Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe unsurprisingly took centre stage on Saturday evening, as Paris Saint-Germain got the better of Saint-Etienne in the French capital.

Mauricio Pochettino's troops marked their return to action a short time ago, eyeing a bounce-back result after being put to the sword in alarming fashion at Nantes last time out.

And, to their credit, when all was said and done, this is precisely what the evening's hosts managed, courtesy of a 3-1 triumph.

After Saint-Etienne opened the scoring at the Parc des Princes on the quarter of an hour mark, PSG levelled things up just shy of the interval, when Lionel Messi's inch perfect through ball was slotted home by Kylian Mbappe:

And the attacking partners in crime were back at it once more on the other side of the break, as a moment of magic on the part of Messi saw the Argentine tee up Mbappe once more, to pick out the far corner of the visitors' net in style:

There was still time for Mbappe to show off his creative talents, too, as the Frenchman's sumptuous outside-of-the-boot delivery from the left flank allowed Danilo to nod home a 3rd for the hosts, rounding out the evening's scoring in the process:

Mbappe matches Ibra

And the latest attacking exploits put forth by PSG's starring duo have since given rise to a head-turning pair of statistics.

First, it has been revealed that Lionel Messi, considered as being in the midst of something of a down season by his own sky-high standards, has now racked up more assists than any other player across Europe's top-5 leagues since the turn of the year.

Not only that, but the Argentine icon has climbed to 2nd in the assist charts across the season as a whole, now trailing only Bayern Munich's Thomas Muller:

Kylian Mbappe, meanwhile, has too etched his name ever further into the history books of PSG.

This comes with the French international having moved level with Zlatan Ibrahimovic as the 2nd top scorer in the club's famed history, now trailing only Edinson Cavani in the same category:

 

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Conor Laird

Conor Laird

Die-hard Juventus fan with a love for all things Italian, and a real soft spot for Arsenal cult heroes. Emmanuel Eboue, Nicklas Bendtner, Philippe Senderos... Give them all statues outside the Emirates.


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