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.

Barcelona-based daily El Mundo Deportivo, meanwhile, responded by claiming only the result saved Schuster from the sack on Saturday, and that his team were 19 minutes away from receiving the infamous 'white handkerchief' protest from fans who are "fed-up with the German".

Despite the reports, Madrid president Ramon Calderon came out in defence of his coach, claiming that even if Schuster fails to win the league his job will be safe.

"Yes he'll continue, without doubt," Calderon told Argentinian radio station FM Latina.

"It does not depend on him winning the league, it depends on him wanting to stay and us believing in him, his method of work and his philosophies on the game.

"To be coach of Real Madrid you have to have been a great player or an ex-player of this club, and he understands the mentality of the great players brilliantly.

"Here we like attacking football, with plenty of passing, possession and that is what he is doing."

Adding to the debate, former Barca legend and current advisor to Laporta, Johan Cruyff, told El Periodico that he believes Rijkaard is in a stronger position to retain his post given that his side are still fighting on three fronts this season.

"If I could choose, I'd rather be in Frank Rijkaard's situation rather than Bernd Schuster's," he said.

"The former has to command his dressing room to play, compete and fight in three competitions. The latter only has one match a week in which to command his group of egos and get results out of them."

Barcelona are eight points adrift of Real in second place, with 11 games remaining in the league.