Legendary Real Madrid and Spain goalkeeper Iker Casillas claimed his Twitter account had been hacked after he earlier appeared to come out as gay.
The 41-year-old posted on social media on Sunday: “I hope you respect me: I’m gay. #HappySunday”.
Casillas is renowned as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all-time and was part of the Spain side that won three successive major tournaments across Euro 2008, World Cup 2010 and Euro 2012, earning 167 caps for the national side.
Carles Puyol, the former Barcelona captain who played alongside Casillas in the first of those two triumphs, tweeted in reply: “It’s time to tell our story, Iker”.
However, both Casillas’ initial message and Puyol’s response were later taken down, with reports then emerging in Spain that it may have not been a serious tweet from the former goalkeeper.
After a period of silence from the pair, Casillas then took to social media to claim he had been hacked as he offered an explanation for the message.
He tweeted: “Hacked account. Luckily everything in order. Apologies to all my followers. And of course, more apologies to the LGBT community.”
Puyol later offered an apology for his reply to the deleted tweet, saying he had not meant to offend anyone by making a “clumsy joke”.
“I have made a mistake,” he said. “Sorry for a clumsy joke with no bad intentions and totally out of place.
“I understand that it may have hurt sensitivities. All my respect and support for the LGTBIQA+ community.”
