Another Lionel Messi masterclass, PSG are really seeing him at his best right now

Lionel Messi put in another brilliant performance, as PSG beat Maccabi Haifa in the Champions League, as the French side confirmed their place in the knockout stages.

Messi didn't have a great first season in Ligue 1, made even worse by his own ridiculously lofty standards, he did look a bit better playing in Europe but for the seven time Ballon d'Or winner it was still light years from his best, not even making it onto the 30 man list for an eighth golden ball.

Already in this campaign he has made that poor first year look like a distant memory and is looking somewhere close to his very best.

The 35-year-old has scored six goals and, perhaps more importantly, has laid on nine assists, in just nine games in the league so far, leading to one pundit saying that he's the player who makes the difference in the team, not Kylian Mbappe.

On Tuesday night, PSG came up against Haifa on match day five of the Champions League, with the Israeli side having shocked Juventus in the previous round of games.

It wasn't to be a second successive shock for them with the French side running out 7-2 winners, with Christophe Galtier picking his strongest side to avoid any upsets.

Messi was at the centre of most things that the French champions did well, scoring two goals, with his first being an absolute beauty, and setting up to more for his teammates.

And his personal highlights video shows exactly how good he was, with some marvellous playmaking to go along with his goals.

Lionel Messi vs. Maccabi Haifapic.twitter.com/uXtGWlUxq3

— KLD/Y (@rKLDY) October 25, 2022

His performance had people wondering whether or not he'd have been in contention to become the ocho of the Ballon d'Or if the award hadn't changed its rules for this year.

It was handed out to Karim Benzema last week, earlier than it usually is, with France Football changing it from something won over a calendar year to seasonal.

It means that Messi will surely be back in with a chance in a year's time, especially depending how the World Cup goes for Argentina.

Winning something with the national team had long been the monkey on his back, but he helped his country win the Copa America in 2021.

Adding a World Cup in Qatar, to which Argentina are one of the favourites, would be the real crowning glory of his career and PSG could still go on to win the Champions League too.

Most neutrals would probably love to see Messi go on and lift the famous trophy in the Middle East in December, with Jamie Carragher admitting he'd rather Argentina won the World Cup than England.

The former Liverpool defender admitted that he wants to see the former Barcelona man 'cement his position' as the greatest ever.

However, that's not the feeling for everyone, with famous Brazil striker Ronaldo saying he doesn't want to see Messi win the World Cup.

He said he loved the forward and would want him to win, if he'd nationalised for Spain in the past, such is the competition between their two countries.