Dubai, United Arab Emirates (CNN) – Iker Casillas, the former Spain and Real Madrid goalkeeper, said that his Twitter account had been hacked, following a tweet in which he declared that he was “gay”.
Casillas had tweeted earlier on Sunday: “I hope you respect me, I’m gay,” to which former Spanish defender Carles Puyol responded by saying: “It’s time to tell our story.”
Casillas deleted his tweet, then explained that his account had been hacked, saying: “The account is hacked, fortunately everything is in order, I apologize to all my followers, and of course more apologies to the gay community.”
Press reports claimed that Casillas tweeted that he was “gay” to curb rumors linking him to Colombian singer Shakira, the ex-girlfriend of Barcelona player Gerard Pique.
Casillas retired from football at the age of 39, following suffering a heart attack while training with Portuguese club Porto in 2020.
Casillas spent 22 years in the green rectangle, during which time he won a number of titles: the World Cup, the European Champions League and the Spanish League.