David Villa's international career is not necessarily over and the striker could return to the squad and extend his Spain scoring record, coach Vicente del Bosque said on Tuesday.
It was widely assumed the New York City player, who has 59 goals in 97 games for La Roja, had played for the last time at the World Cup in Brazil last year although the 33-year-old never said he was quitting the national team.
Captain Villa scored the opener and set up the second goal in his club's Major League Soccer home debut this month, a 2-0 win against the New England Revolution at Yankee Stadium.
Del Bosque told Spanish radio that Villa still had a chance of reaching 100 caps and there was nothing wrong with rewarding someone who had "done so much for the national team".
The former Valencia and Barcelona forward's goals were crucial to Spain's triumphs at Euro 2008 and the 2010 World Cup but he missed the victorious Euro 2012 campaign due to injury.
"There are exceptional cases and one of those is David," Del Bosque said.
Villa has not been included in Spain's squad for Friday's Euro 2016 qualifier at home to Ukraine and the friendly in Netherlands four days later.
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