Legendary goalkeeper Iker Casillas has appeared to announce on social media that he is gay.
It would make the former Real Madrid and Spain star one of the most high-profile male footballers in history to confirm their homosexuality.
In a tweet published on Sunday afternoon, the ex-goalkeeper said: "I hope you respect me: I'm gay."
Casillas was married to sports journalist Sara Carbonero for five years before their separation in March 2021, having had two children together, both boys, reports The Mirror.
The 41-year-old received a wave of support following the Twitter post, including from Barcelona icon and his former Spain teammate, Carles Puyol. Casillas, who retired in 2020 after suffering a cardiac arrest during training with final club Porto, is remembered for being one of football's most successful goalkeepers.
The Spanish great won one World Cup, two European Championships, five La Liga titles and three Champions Leagues in a distinguished senior career which spanned 22 years. Spending a total of 25 years with Real Madrid, whom he joined at the age of nine, the Los Blancos hero lifted a whopping 19 trophies, while also captaining the team from 2010 until his departure in 2015.
Between 2004 and 2008, Casillas dated the winner of a beauty pageant, Eva Gonzalez. Soon after their split, Casillas began dating Carbonero. The shot-stopper famously kissed the reporter following Spain's triumph at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, when La Roja famously beat the Netherlands in the final thanks to Andres Iniesta 's extra-time winner.
Their first son, Martin, now eight, was born in Madrid on January 3, 2014. In November the following year, the couple announced that they were expecting their second child. Three months before Lucas, now six, arrived on June 2, 2016, Casillas and Carbonero married. Their official partnership would last for five years until last March when their separation was announced.
Upon announcing that news, Casillas declared in an emotional statement: "Both Sara and I feel enormously proud of the family we are and of having shared a love that has filled us with happiness during all our years together. Today our love as a couple takes different but not distant paths since we'll continue together in the marvellous task of continuing to be devoted parents as we have been up until now.
"This is a well-considered decision which we have taken through mutual agreement. The respect, affection and friendship will remain for ever. Our priority is, through affection and compromise, to share the wellbeing and education of our children and protect them so they grow in a stable and healthy environment.
"With these words we ask you please to respect our privacy in this moment of change. These will be the only public words we issue for the time being and in the future. Many thanks for your understanding."
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