Ribery beats Ronaldo & Messi to Uefa Best Player award

     

                                                                      Frank Ribery

Bayern Munich midfielder beats off competition from Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo to be crowned as Uefa's Best Player in Europe

The 30-year-old French international capped off a magnificent year by being presented with the prestigious award at a glitzy Champions league gala in Monte Carlo.

Ribery was instrumental in Bayern's Bundesliga, DFB Pokal and Champions League treble in 2012/13 and was voted the Best Player in Europe by journalists representing the 53 Uefa nations.

The individual accolade has been ran for the past three seasons, and was previously won by Messi in 2010/11 and club teammate Andres Iniesta the following year.

Upon acceptng the award from Uefa president Michel Platini, Ribery said, "It’s a very special moment to be standing here this evening. I want to thank all of my team-mates from FC Bayern München, my family and my kids.”

The winger becomes the fourth Bayern player to win the continent's highest individual prize, following in the footsteps of Gerd Muller, Franz Beckenbauer and Karl-Heniz Rummenigge.

Ribery will have little time to celebrate the accolade as he'll soon be en route to Prague, where his Bayern side are preparing to take on Chelsea for the Uefa Super Cup tomorrow night.

The former Marseille man has been at the Allianz Arena since 2007, over which time he's collected three league titles, three German cups and last seasons Champions league trophy.
via goal.com