 He continued to appear prominently until the end of his career, retiring at the age of 36 with the most matches played in the Spanish top flight, a record which stood for less than one year, however.Joaquín earned 18 caps and scored once for Spain, and was selected to the 1982 FIFA World Cup squad.His debut came on 14 November 1979 in a 1–3 friendly defeat with Denmark, in Cádiz.