During his first and only season he was only the fourth of five strikers in the squad, his only Ligue 1 goal coming on 26 September in what his first start, opening a 2–3 loss at Valenciennes FC. Morientes was released on 1 July 2010, by mutual consent. On 31 August, the 34-year-old announced his retirement from football. Morientes started his career as manager with Huracán Valencia CF, taking charge of its youth academy. In 2012 he returned to Real Madrid, being appointed at the "Juvenil B" team in the youth academy. In January 2015, at 38, Morientes returned to playing, signing with DAV Santa Ana in the Madrid regional championships. In June, he became manager of CF Fuenlabrada, but was sacked the following 17 February with the team 11th in Segunda División B.  Morientes was a reliable performer for the Spanish national team since 1998, scoring a brace in the first five minutes of his debut against Sweden on 25 March and adding a further two in each of his next two games, against Northern Ireland and Bulgaria respectively. He ranked fourth on the Spanish all-time topscorer's list with 27 goals in 47 appearances, behind former Real Madrid teammate Raúl, former Valencia teammate Villa and former Madrid captain Fernando Hierro (who took the majority of Spain's free kicks and penalties), although his goals-to-games ratio was higher than Raúl and Hierro. Morientes netted five goals in the two FIFA World Cups he featured in, with two goals in 1998 and three in 2002. In the latter edition Morientes and Raúl played together up front, and both showed impressive form in the tournament; during the quarter-final match against South Korea the former scored a goal in extra-time that was disallowed, although replays suggested the goal was legitimate – Spain eventually lost the match on penalties. Morientes was a surprise omission at UEFA Euro 2000, but played at Euro 2004 in Portugal, where he scored one of only two goals that Spain could manage, in a subsequent group stage exit. He also played for the nation during the 2006 World Cup qualifiers; however, due to his poor club form for Liverpool, he was not chosen by national team coach Luis Aragonés in the final squad for the tournament, although he was part of an initial 31-man list. Following his return to form after moving to Valencia, Morientes was recalled to the national side.