MADRID (AP)—Spain coach Vicente del Bosque left Xavi Hernandez and Carles Puyol out of the World Cup champion’s squad for upcoming friendly matches against the United States and Venezuela.

Del Bosque preferred to rest the Barcelona pair as Puyol has played little in 2011 due to a knee injury. Del Bosque says Xavi is getting an extra break after a long season.

Spain plays the U.S. in Foxborough, Massachusetts, on June 4 and Venezuela in Puerto La Cruz three days later.

The matches will be the first test of whether relations within the Spain squad have been strained by the recent run of ill-tempered matches between Real Madrid and Barcelona, with a combined 11 players from the two teams included.