Spain coach Vicente del Bosque has left Chelsea striker Fernando Torres out of the world and European champions' squad for a friendly international against Venezuela in Malaga on Wednesday.

Spain, who will defend their European crown later this year, face the vastly-improved South Americans in Malaga next Wednesday and while Del Bosque stressed there could still be changes to the squad before this summer's European Championship in Ukraine and Poland, Torres looks a long way from making his squad of 23.

Del Bosque said he wanted to reward players who had been performing well. Torres has been doing anything but that for more than a year.

"His performances recently have been a bit irregular," Del Bosque told a news conference at the Spanish federation's headquarters outside Madrid.

"It does not mean that he is not a special and charismatic player, who has represented his country many times," the former Real Madrid coach added.

"He is a lad we appreciate a great deal and it pains me to leave him out but I wanted to be fair to those lads who are pushing for a place."

Del Bosque, who is without Spain's injured all-time top scorer David Villa but hopes to have him back for Euro 2012, said he wanted to reward form players and recalled Valencia striker Roberto Soldado for the first time since June 2007.

He also handed Athletic Bilbao's 19-year-old forward Iker Muniain his first call-up to the senior squad and included strikers Fernando Llorente, also of Bilbao, and Alvaro Negredo of Sevilla.

Another notable absentee was Barcelona forward Pedro, a World Cup-winner with Spain in South Africa in 2010 whose season has been disrupted by injury.

Torres has endured a woeful time since he joined Chelsea from Liverpool for a British record fee of £50 million just over a year ago.

He scored one goal for Chelsea in 18 appearances last season and this season he has been just as unimpressive.

In 29 appearances he has scored four times and has not found the net since October 19 when he scored twice against Genk in a Champions League match.

He scored his last Premier League goal five months ago in a 4-1 win over Swansea on September 24 - and was then sent off minutes later.

Torres is unrecognisable from the player that was beloved for his scoring exploits at Liverpool and before that at Atletico Madrid.

He last scored for Spain in a European Championship qualifier against Liechtenstein in a 4-0 win in September 2010 when he scored twice but has not found the net for his country in three appearances since then.

"Torres should not take his bad run of form as a negative thing but as a stimulus," Del Bosque said. "Football is about being continually alive and the group always has to be alive to compete at the highest level.

"It is in no way a definitive decision. It's a basic list but not the final one for the European Championship."

Soldado, 26, has represented Spain twice before, in June 2007, when he failed to score. He has netted 12 goals for Valencia in La Liga this season and scored five in the Champions League group stage.

Spain won all eight of their qualifiers for Euro 2012 and finished top of Group I. They are in Group C for the finals along with Italy, Republic of Ireland and Croatia.

Squad for Venezuela friendly:

Goalkeepers: Iker Casillas (Real Madrid), Victor Valdes (Barcelona), Pepe Reina (Liverpool)

Defenders: Alvaro Arbeloa (Real Madrid), Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), Gerard Pique (Barcelona), Carles Puyol (Barcelona), Jordi Alba (Valencia), Andoni Iraola (Athletic Bilbao), Javi Martinez (Athletic Bilbao)

Midfielders: Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid), Thiago Alcantara (Barcelona), Cesc Fabregas (Barcelona), Sergio Busquets (Barcelona), Santi Cazorla (Malaga), Xavi (Barcelona), Andres Iniesta (Barcelona)

Forwards: David Silva (Manchester City), Iker Muniain (Athletic Bilbao), Roberto Soldado (Valencia), Fernando Llorente (Athletic Bilbao), Juan Mata (Chelsea), Jesus Navas (Sevilla), Alvaro Negredo (Sevilla)

Eurosport / Reuters