Rabat - Morocco international Mehdi Benatia is the third best African football player in 2014 by Moroccan sports bi-weekly Al Mountakhab.
The Bayern Munich defender was preceded by Ivory Coast's Yaya Toure and Algeria's Yacine Brahimi.
After being crowned best Arab player of 2014 at the Global Soccer Awards in Dubai, the Moroccan defender was ranked in third place of Al Mountakhab's 2014 Golden Lion Awards.
The former AS Roma player was beaten by Manchester City's Yaya Toure, who wins the Award for the third consecutive year.
FC Porto's Yacine Brahimi was ranked second, while no other Moroccan player made it to the Al Mountakhab's list of the ten best African players.