Gerard Piqué still has a future with Spain, but he's been dropped by Vincente del Bosque for their two coming matches.

The decision to drop Piqué is somewhat surprising due to Spain's dearth of options at the back.

Although Pique is expected to feature for Barcelona in their La Liga game at Villarreal on Sunday, the veteran coach said at Friday's news conference that the decision had been made on fitness grounds.

"There are eight players from the World Cup who are not coming," Del Bosque said. "We have very fluid contact with [Piqué]. We spoke recently and he was not fully recovered. He had some discomfort from his hip injury. He wants to keep coming with the national team, but at this moment we thought he should not come."