SKF Manager of the month in the top 5 leagues in Europe

You would think the Spaniard is probably in contention to be the best manager in the month of February in all of Europe - thanks to his side's brilliant cup final victory against Arsenal to add to the almost-certain League title. But life's quite a lot harder as manager of a football club these days.

Here's our ranking for the top managers in each of the top 5 leagues in Europe, for the month of February.

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#5 Jupp Heynckes - Bayern Munich (GERMANY)

Jupp Heynckes has helped steady the sinking Bayern ship since Ancelotii's departure.

When Jupp Heynckes came out of retirement to take over the reigns at the Allianz Arena, few expected things to go as well as they have since. The last time the German was in-charge at Munich, Bayern went on to win the only treble in their history.

After beginning his second stint as manager at the club, Heynckes has similarly kept the Munich giants alive in all three competitions, playing 25, losing and drawing one each and winning a scarcely believable 23 matches.

In the month of February, Bayern - under the German - have managed to win all their engagements in the league, cup and champions league knock-out stages, except the final match that they drew against Hertha Berlin, all the while scoring 15 goals and letting in just the one.

With unparalleled numbers like that, it comes as no surprise that Jupp Heynckes sits pretty on top of the list of nominees for manager of the month in Germany.

The performance in the UCL round of 16 tie against Besiktas (5 away goals without reply), was enough to seem him edge out the others quite comfortably. However, taking into account the relatively easier nature of the Bundesliga (a 19 point lead at the top) Heynckes could only manage the 5th spot on our list.

#4 Jurgen Klopp - Liverpool (ENGLAND)

The points dropped against Tottenham saw the German slip down to 4th on the list,

Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool have quietly gone about doing the business they intended. The Merseyside club has managed to win 3 out of the 4 matches in the month currently underway, with victories against West Ham and Southampton in the League and an even more impressive display away at Porto (0-5 to the Reds) in the UCL round of 16 tie.

While all the fuss was about the Arsenal-City and United-Chelsea clashes, Liverpool gained ground in the league without popping up on anyone's radar. A feisty 2-2 draw against a red-hot Tottenham side at Anfield - a game they should've won on the night after going ahead in the 89th minute only for the lead to be cancelled out by an even later Harry Kane penalty - got things going in the month of February.

Credit, where it's due, as expected the competition to be England's top dog, is much tougher than in any other country in Europe. Contenders like Mauricio Pochettino (unbeaten in February including two away goals against Juventus in a tricky period of the fixture-list), Pep Guardiola (League Cup Final victory against Arsenal), Jose Mourinho (come-back win against his former Chelsea side) and Antonio Conte (keeping Barca at arm's length in the UCL) made it very difficult for us here at Sportskeeda to make a decision.

Apart from the four we just mentioned, Chris Hughton kept coming up in our discussions because of his side remaining unbeaten.

After a lot of deliberating, we finally settled on the former Dortmund manager for the top spot in England, but because of dropping points late on against Pochettino's side and fewer matches to contend with, he dropped down to the fourth spot on this list when he could've been as high as second.

#3 Leonardo Jardim - AS Monaco (FRANCE)

Leonardo Jardim has found a way to keep his team, not just afloat, but second in the league.

It seemed as if AS Monaco's future was very uncertain, with most of the squad - from the title-winning season the year before - being stripped and sold for parts in the summer transfer window that followed.

What was worse that apart from vital players like Bernardo Silva, Benjamin Mendy, Tiemoué Bakayoko and Guido Carrillo moving to England, their talisman from the season before, Kylian Mbappe, strengthened their direct rivals Paris-Saint Germain by joining them on loan in a deal which will be made permanent in this summer transfer window.

Therefore, you'd expect PSG' manager -who also brought in Neymar from Barcelona and managed to run away with the league (14 point gap between the two) - have a shot at getting the accolade. But Jardim had other ideas.

In the month of February, although PSG won each of their 4 matches in the Ligue 1 (scoring 13 goals), they managed to throw away an all-important lead at the Santiago Bernabeu eventually going down in the round of 16 UCL 1st leg 3-1 to Real Madrid.

This has ruined their chances of seeking to lay their hands on the only title that eludes them, also ruining Unai Emery's chances of being the manager of the month from France.

Meanwhile, Jardim has driven his team to victory in every single match that they've been involved in February. January ended on a sour note for the Portuguese who saw his side drop points at Marseille after being knocked out of the Coupe de France at the hand of Olympique Lyon. But Monaco had the last say, as they got their revenge against the side form Lyon, beating them in a five-goal thriller at the Stade Louis-II in Monaco.

Their wonderful run also confirmed a place in the finals of the French League Cup against last year league runners-up, PSG.

Simply put, a perfect month for Jardim sees him become the manager of the month in France, as well as a respectable 3rd spot on this illustrious list.

#2 Gennaro Gattuso - AC Milan (ITALY)

Gattuso has managed to turn around the fortunes of the legendary side from Milan.

Italy is often criticised for being a one-sided affair in terms of the league every season. In the recent past, Juventus have managed to become the only dominant force in the Serie A winning it in each of the last six seasons - with the certainty of a seventh this season.

Add to that 3 Italian cups in the last 3 seasons and 2 Champions League Final finishes in two of the three seasons preceding the one underway, and you can see why observers are quick to rubbish the claims of Italy being a competitive league. But something interesting is brewing in the red part of San Siro.

Massimiliano Allegri has been firmly in charge of proceedings in the nation's top league in the month of February. Juve played three games in the league this month (against Sassuolo at home and Fiorentina and Torino away) winning all of them, scoring 9 goals (7 coming in Turin against Sassuolo) and conceding none.

Impressive showing from Allegri's side, but the failure to capitalise on a 2-0 lead against Tottenham Hotspur in the Champions League to eventually give away two away goals has certainly taken the gloss off the performance by Juventus in the month of February and has kept the Italian out of contention for the manager of the month in Italy.

That honour can go to one and one man only, Gennaro Gattuso. Despite not having a lot of competition from other managers in Italy - with the likes of Luciano Spalletti and Eusebio Di Francesco both struggling to get the best out of their team - Gattuso has managed to breathe life into an almost corpse-life football team of AC Milan. The former World Cup Winner is a two-time Champions League Winner while playing with the side and has worked his magic at the club once more.

In the current month, Gattuso has managed his side to victory in 5 of the 6 games they were involved in (including a two-legged Europa league tie against Ludogorets); keeping a clean sheet in all of them. The only draw coming in a hard fought 1-1 draw, away against Udinese, right at the start of the month.

All this, a part of a longer 12 match unbeaten run with 10 victories! Staggering. Therefore the Italian being on number 2 on our list is warranted because of the stiff competition he has faced in Italy from Allegri, but especially because he has managed to keep the momentum going - to follow up on the spike in fortunes of the team as a result of a new manager coming in.

Any debate on Italy's manager of the month for February should cease to exist.

#1 Diego Simeone - Atletico Madrid (SPAIN)

Diego Simeone has had the most satisfying month among the managers.

We're delighted we held off on publishing this last evening, because we pretty much had our minds made up about who our number 1 was going to be. It was the maestro Zinedine Zidane. Now hold off before you accuse us of either being Real Madrid fan boys or Barcelona haters.

To make ourselves clear, Zidane was our choice because of the wonderful form his team has managed to find this month. After the bitter disappointment of losing in the Copa Del Rey quarterfinals to the small-time Leganes side, Madrid bounced back to beat Valencia 1-4 at the Mestalla in the last fixture of January.

The only blip in February came right at the start of the month, when Madrid let a lead slip twice - the second time in the penultimate minute of normal time - to drop points away against Levante. It's been all upside since, till they experienced another one just a matter of hours ago away at Espanyol, where they conceded (the only goal of the game) in the last minute of stoppage time.

It's never nice to try to explain why Zidane isn't on any list with a title that has the word 'Top' in it, but the shoddy performance by Madrid last night was really the last straw.

Whereas, for Ernesto Valverde, the task to be number one in Spain and as a result number one on this list (because of the intense battle between the top three managers) for February, was made difficult because his side failed to win 2 of the 5 league matches - away to Espanyol and against minnows Getafe at home - they were involved in, despite coming away with a decent result from Stamford Bridge in the Champions League.

Atletico Madrid, meanwhile have been the biggest victors in the month of February. Under Diego Simeone, the Madrid-based club has taken large strides forward both in the league and in Europe. The Uruguayan has over-seen the most successful period in the club's recent history, winning the La Liga in '13/14, after a gap of 18 years - the first time the Catalans or the Los Blancos failed to win it since '03/04.

But facts like those aren't the reason he's our number one this month. In this compilation it's all about - what have you done lately? But don't worry, Simeone has you covered. His side has been on it this entire month.

January culminated in the elimination from the Copa Del Rey at the hands of Sevilla, but Atletico bounced back in February by winning all 6 matches that they played including wins against Copenhagen in two legs in the Europa League, against Valencia in the league and sweet revenge over Sevilla at the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán Stadium for the Copa Del Rey loss.

Go on Diego, take a bow. You are our Manager of the month for all of Europe!