The 37-year-old 2010 World Cup winner is producing one of the greatest seasons by a marquee import in A-League history and is only getting better as the season wears on, coming out as Flashscore's Player of the Match in four of his last eight appearances.
During that stretch, Mata has directly set up seven goals and scored another two, both of which were in Melbourne Victory's crucial derby win over Melbourne City on Saturday.
Mata now has three A-League goals and nine assists in 18 appearances for the Victory, tripling his output on both counts from his 23-game season at the Western Sydney Wanderers, where he was often played out of position and in roles not best suited to his nearly 20 years of experience.
After opening the scoring from close to the centre of the pitch, Mata regained the lead for Victory in the early stages of the final half-hour with another precise strike, this time from the edge of the box after being left with far too much space to line himself up.
The Spanish legend then found himself on the right end of an intercepted pass when City were pressing forward aggressively in search of an equaliser and, with a curling pinpoint left-foot pass, set up fresh-legged Brazilian teammate Clarismario for the decisive goal that put the game to bed.
Mata was the official A-League Player of the Month in January for registering five assists in four games, and having already accumulated a further two goals and two assists this month, is now a standout favourite to be crowned the king of February.
Victory moved provisionally into fifth place with their win, whilst City are five points behind in seventh and will be sweating on the result of Sunday's game between Newcastle and Macarthur.