Bayern Munich midfield sensation Franck Ribery bagged the UEFA Best Player in Europe award.

The French international amassed 36 votes out of a voting panel composed of 53 football pundits, representing their respective countries and media organisations from all over Europe.

Barcelona magician Lionel Messi came in second and Real Madrid poster boy Cristiano Ronaldo took third place, with 14 and 3 votes, respectively.

Ribery was part of the treble-winning Bavarians in last year's campaign, which may have played a significant criterion to winning the hearts of those who voted for him.

Signing with Bayern in 2007, Ribery's career was bordering from mediocre to a flop until after Jupp Heynckes took over and reinvented the whole team which positively radiated to the Frenchman's performance.

In spite of feeling elated for receiving the said award, he appeared to have kept his focus coming into his team's much talked about Super Cup clash against Jose Mourinho's Chelsea.

Read also: UEFA Champions League Draw: Result, Comments, Reactions

Mourinho and newly appointed Bayern boss Josep Guardiola had their fair share of "word wars," when the former was still with Real Madrid and Guardiola with Barcelona.

An intense battle is to be expected coming from two top-class teams, with each of them holding the number one position in their respective domestic leagues, as of this writing.

The match will be held at Eden Arena in Prague on Friday.

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