MADRID (AP) — Iñigo Martínez scored from a free kick to help Athletic Bilbao win at Valladolid 3-1 in the Spanish league on the same day the veteran defender was called back to Spain’s national team.
Martínez fired his free kick past the barrier for the opener on the half-hour mark.
He was included in the first squad of new Spain coach Luis de la Fuente announced hours before the league game. The center back played for Spain until June before former national coach Luis Enrique dropped him ahead of the World Cup.
Gorka Guruzeta added a second goal from a pass by Óscar de Marcos in the 57th and Mikel Vesga converted a penalty in the 78th.
Cyle Larin scored for Valladolid in the 74th, his fifth since the Canada forward joined the team in January.
Bilbao ended a run of five games without a win. Following the international break, Bilbao will have one more league match before it faces Osasuna on April 4 in their second Copa del Rey semifinal. Osasuna leads 1-0 from the first leg.
“We had been looking for this win for a while, we needed to get out of this bad run,” Bilbao coach Ernesto Valverde said. “We knew that this was an important game to turn this around.”
Bilbao moved into seventh place. Valladolid stayed in 14th.
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