Athletic Bilbao defender Inigo Martinez withdrew himself from contention for a place in Spain's Euro 2020 squad because of concerns over his physical and mental health.
Luis Enrique named a 24-man squad for the tournament on Monday, with Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos the headline omission.
Ramos' absence would ordinarily mean a prominent role for Martinez, although he was another notable absentee, with Pau Torres, Diego Llorente, Aymeric Laporte, Eric Garcia and Cesar Azpilicueta comprising Luis Enrique's central defensive options.
Speaking at a news conference after the squad announcement, Luis Enrique did not go into detail over Martinez not being selected, simply saying there would be a statement after his briefing.
The 30-year-old then posted an explanation on social media, saying that he felt it was time to put his own wellbeing first for the good of both the national team and himself.
"These lines are very hard to write. The truth is that for some time I have not been 100 per cent physically or mentally to compete at the level of maximum demand required by the Athletic and national team jerseys," Martinez's statement read.
"I have come to the conclusion that, out of honesty with these shirts and with myself, I must stop. Take a step to the side to disconnect, recharge the batteries and quickly recover the strength that has always accompanied me.
"A few days ago I transferred this difficult decision to my club and to the national team, since I have been fighting all season to the fullest for my club and for the goal of participating in the Euro.
"I have left everything on the pitch for it, but I believe that sincerity is the best for the national team in this difficult challenge that lies ahead."
Martinez has played 28 times for Athletic in LaLiga this season, largely matching the levels he has set throughout a distinguished career in Spain's top flight, the bulk of which came with Basque neighbours Real Sociedad before moving to San Mames in 2018.
A 68.2 per cent tackle success rate sits alongside his overall output in LaLiga (68.9) and is better than his average in Bilbao (60.3).
He has won 57.3 per cent of duels contested in 2020-21, a slight drop when compared to his whole career (59.5) and stint at Athletic (61.1).
Martinez is also reliably smooth in possession, completing 82.8 per cent of his passes this season – putting him 11th among Spanish-qualified defenders to have played 2,000 or more minutes in the division. That is up on 79.4 per cent for Athletic overall and 79.6 in his career to date.
Barcelona must 'work hard' to achieve Champions League glory, says Flick
Hansi Flick tempered expectations of Barcelona's chances of silverware in his first season in charge ahead of facing Red Star Belgrade in the Champions League.
Flick has led Barca to 13 wins from 15 games in all competitions, scoring 50 goals in those games while conceding just 14 times.
Some standout matches have seen Barca thrash Clasico rivals Real Madrid 4-0 while also brushing aside Bayern Munich 4-1 in the Champions League in their last match in the competition.
While Flick understood the fans' excitement after those results, he urged his side to keep their feet on the ground with a long season still in front of them.
"We have to work hard. There are many teams who dream of the same thing, of winning (the Champions League)," Flick said.
"For the moment, we're going to focus on working hard and grinding out, so then we'll see what happens. We have to focus on our goal which is to keep improving.
"A team's form fluctuates a lot over a long season. The important thing is to focus on winning the next match. Sure, after the match against Bayern everything changed.
"But we are just starting. The important thing is how we finish the season. We could say that our goal is to be in the top eight."
Flick, however, insisted he was not surprised by his side's impressive start to the campaign despite enduring a trophyless season last term.
Barca are nine points clear at the top of LaLiga and 11th in the Champions League table ahead of facing Red Star, who are without a win from their three games so far.
"Before we came here we analysed the whole team, every player. We realised that there was very good quality overall," Flick said.
"Another thing to point out is that we wanted to improve how we defend and did small changes in the way we play. The players liked it and they are happy working on it.
"The players play a big role, they are helping us a lot.
"The start was already good on the pre-season in North American and the players are very happy, although there are still many things to improve."
And Barca will be confident of keeping their fine form going against a side that has lost 81% of their matches in the Champions League (P21 W2 D2 L17).
This is the first European meeting between the two sides since October 1996 in the Cup Winners’ Cup, a 1-1 draw with Giovanni cancelling out a Zoran Jovicic's opener for the Serbians.
PSV 4-0 Girona: Dutch side get first win of Champions League
PSV Eindhoven won their first match in the Champions League this season as they thrashed Girona 4-0 at the Philips Stadion on Tuesday.
Ryan Flamingo got the scoring under way after 16 minutes as he turned Malik Tillman's long throw home, despite replays showing that it should have been disallowed as Tillman's foot was over the byline before releasing the ball.
Tillman got himself on the scoresheet 17 minutes later with a fine finish after he arribed into the box unopposed.
Things went from bad to worth for Girona after half-time, with Arnau Martinez receiving a red card 10 minutes into the second half for a second bookable offence.
From then, it was all one-way traffic and PSV might feel aggrieved not to have won by a bigger margin given their glut of second-half chances.
Ismael Saibari was next to put the ball in the back of the net, although his effort was ruled out for a foul in the build-up following a VAR review.
Johan Bakayoko did get PSV's third with seven minutes to go, before a Ladislav Krejci own goal wrapped up the rout in the 88th minute. The result leaves Girona 26th in the table on three points, while PSV are 19th with five points.
Odegaard returns to full Arsenal training ahead of Inter tie
Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard has returned to full training after spending two months out of action with an ankle injury.
Odegaard has missed 12 matches for the Gunners in all competitions after damaging his ankle ligaments against Austria while on international duty with Norway in September.
The 25-year-old midfielder trained with Arsenal ahead of their trip to the San Siro to face Inter in the Champions League on Wednesday.
Mikel Arteta's side have, however, struggled in Odegaard's absence recently, failing to win any of their last three games in the Premier League.
In the seven games that Odegaard has missed in the top-flight, Arsenal's win percentage dropped from 66.7% to 42.9% after going unbeaten in their first three games.
The Gunners have also averaged 1.6 points per game without Odegaard, compared to 2.3 points won with the Norwegian in their ranks.
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