Chelsea striker Fernando Torres has been left out of Spain's squad for their friendly international against Venezuela in Malaga on Wednesday.
Spain coach Vicente Del Bosque stressed there could still be changes to the squad before this summer's European Championship in Ukraine and Poland.
But said he wanted to reward players who had been performing well.
Del Bosque said: "He is a lad we appreciate a lot and it pains me to leave him out but I wanted to be fair."
The Spain boss had said in December that Torres needed to turn his season around to ensure selection for Euro 2012.
The 27-year-old has scored just four goals in 29 Chelsea appearances this season.