Barcelona suffered a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Villarreal on Sunday to increase the gulf in points between them and La Liga leaders Real to eight, and reignite talk in the press of this being coach Frank Rijkaard's last season in charge.
Real Madrid ground out a 2-1 win over Espanyol on Saturday, but a far from perfect display in the Bernabeu means questions are still being asked of Bernd Schuster's ability to coach the nine-time European champions.
And with Jose Mourinho waiting in the wings after his admission that he aims to coach in either Spain or Italy next season, the Spanish media is convinced that one of the league's big two will axe their manager in favour of the self-proclaimed "special-one".
Reports in Spain last week suggested Madrid would be the most likely destination for the Portuguese manager, but Barca's defeat on Sunday has thrown the debate wide open.
Barcelona president Joan Laporta was far from happy with his side's defeat on Sunday and could not hide his disappointment in his post-game comments.
"What happened is a hammer blow for us," he said.
"We keep on passing up chances to catch the leaders and the league is getting away from us. The fact of the matter is for two weeks we haven't been at the level we should have been at, which has meant Real Madrid have pulled away again."
These comments led Madrid-based daily Marca to announce that only the capture of La Liga title will save Rijkaard's job.
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