El clasico: Real Madrid's date with Barcelona this month is now crucial for Julen Lopetegui's future

Julen Lopetegui's time at Real Madrid is increasingly likely to come to an abrupt end if the Bernabeu club fall to FC Barcelona at the Nou Camp in ten days' time.

The former Spain coach has endured a rocky start to life since taking up the unenviable task of succeeding back-to-back Champions League winner Zinedine Zidane.

Just two points separate the top six teams in La Liga, with the four title favourites all working their way through sluggish starts to the campaign, but Madrid's struggles are the most pronounced.

Lopetegui's side have not won since they beat Espanyol in September, going on a horror run of four games without scoring as they fell to defeats at Sevilla, CSKA Moscow and Alaves. That final defeat sent the 52 year old into the international break with increasing questions over his future and while the club decided to stand by him, president Florentino Perez has now actively begun to consider potential replacements.

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Antonio Conte was not an option for Madrid in the summer due to his ongoing severance dispute with Chelsea and that continues to be the case, but this week there was informal contact between Madrid and Conte's entourage to gauge his interest in taking over the 13-time Champions League winners. The Italian would need to resolve his legal wrangling with Roman Abramovich but leads the candidates to replace Lopetegui should things sour further.

The good news for the under-seige Madrid coach is that he has two winnable games in his immediate future. Levante visit the Bernabeu on Saturday lunchtime and then Viktoria Plzen are in the Spanish capital for a Champions League group game on Tuesday night.

Needless to say that poor results in those fixtures could render Lopetegui a dead man walking by the time Real Madrid head to the Nou Camp on October 28, but that fixture itself has been targeted before as a game in which club president Perez likes to 'take the temperature' of his team.

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Perez considered doing away with Zidane a year ago after a 3-0 defeat at home to Barca and similarly thought about wielding the axe on Rafael Benitez when he was humbled in his first clásico - 4-0 at home.

On both occasions he was advised to wait it out but neither remained in charge for much longer. Zidane was paraded out the front door with another Champions League trophy but Madrid finished 17 points behind their arch rivals in third place after a poor campaign domestically. Benitez was sacked two months after that clásico defeat, saved mainly because the disastrous team selection that cost them the game - James Rodriguez starting ahead of Casemiro - was forced upon him by Perez.

This time around, the feeling is that there are no excuses for Lopetegui. Two wins and then something from the clásico are the minimum requirements for him to continue in his job. Should he fail, it would cap quite the disastrous few months for a coach who was one of the most respected in Spain for his work with the Under-21s, but who would suddenly be forced to very carefully consider his next move.