Iker Casillas has claimed that he was hacked after deleting a tweet in which he said that he was gay.
The former Real Madrid and Spain goalkeeper's Twitter account shared a post on Sunday afternoon which read: "I hope you respect me: I'm gay."
Carles Puyol responded to the tweet and said: "The time has come to tell our story, Iker".
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After receiving widespread support and appraisal for his social media statement, news began to emerge that Casillas was joking.
Reports from Spain suggested that 41-year-old has grown fed up of recent speculation surrounding his dating life. Spanish outlet AS claimed that Casillas' post was a response to rumours that he's now in a relationship with Alejandra Onieva - the ex-sister-in-law to Spanish TV host Tamara Falco - 18 months after separating from the mother of his two children, sports journalist Sara Carbonero.
The Real Madrid legend then received a wave of backlash, with fans, players and pundits alike furious that he'd seemingly made a joke over such a difficult issue for so many inside and outside of football.
Attempting to clear up the incident, Casillas wrote: "Hacked account. Luckily everything in order. Apologies to all my followers. And of course, more apologies to the LGBT community."
Josh Cavallo, the Australian player who bravely came out as gay last October and has fought discrimination since, shared his disappointment regarding the situation and tweeted his thoughts. "Iker Casillas and Carles Puyol joking and making fun out of coming out in football is disappointing," Cavallo wrote.
"It's a difficult journey that any LGBTQ+ ppl have to go through. To see my role models and legends of the game make fun out of coming out and my community is beyond disrespectful."
Former Liverpool footballer Jose Enrique responded to Casillas' follow up tweet and claimed he was lying. He tweeted: "Instead of apologize and recognize the mistake rather lie to everyone."
Winning a World Cup, two European Championships, five La Liga titles and three Champions Leagues during a distinguished senior career which spanned 22 years, Casillas went down as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all-time when he retired in 2020 following a heart attack.
Across a glittering 25 years associated to Real Madrid, the shot-stopper lifted 19 trophies and was club captain from 2010 to 2015, the same year which he left the Santiago Bernabeu to join Porto. During a training session with the Portuguese giants in May 2019, Casillas suffered a cardiac arrest and endured a second scare in May of last year, which also saw him rushed to hospital.
Casillas married reporter Carbonero in March 2016, three months before their second boy, Lucas, was born. Their first son, Martin, was born in January 2014. Having spent a total of 11 years together since first dating in 2009 and later as official partners, Casillas and Carbonero announced their separation last March.
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