‘It's best for the team’: Spain coach Luis Enrique DROPS captain Sergio Ramos for Euro 2020 in bombshell announcement

Captain and Real Madrid defender Sergio Ramos has been snubbed by Spain head coach Luis Enrique and left out of the three-time winners' 24-man squad for the upcoming Euro 2020 championships next month, despite extra allowances.

The bombshell decision was announced on Monday as Enrique revealed his list around midday in the Iberian country.

Thanks to Ramos' omission, there is remarkably not a single player from La Liga and Champions League all-time winners Real Madrid present for the first time in the national team's 100-year history of competing in major tournaments.

An integral part of La Roja's double Euros and World Cup wins in 2008, 2012 and 2010 respectively, Ramos, who has represented his country in every big competition since 2004, has been cut for a number of reasons.

Battling injuries throughout 2021, he has barely featured for Madrid in their failure to clinch domestic and European crowns towards the business end of the season, as Los Blancos finished trophyless for the first time since the 2009-2010 campaign.

Manchester centre-back Aymeric Laporte's quick switch of allegiances from France to Spain has also been a factor, yet Enrique still decided to choose just 24 players despite being allowed 26.

Explaining the decision at a press conference that announced his squad, Enrique remarked: "I'd like to send a message to Sergio Ramos, our captain, who is not on the list as he has not been able to compete in the right condition since January, or even train with group."

"I told him by phone last night. It was difficult and tough, but it's best for the team," he added.

Enrique has already been praised for having the guts to eliminate such a big personality from the picture.

However for Ramos, the move is a hammer blow he will struggle not to take personally.

With Spain's games moved from Bilbao to Seville, he will no longer be able to lead his country out in his hometown against Sweden on June 14, nor in other Group E meetings with Poland and Slovakia that follow on the 19th and 23rd.