Spanish Football Star Comes Out as Gay... Or Did He?
Iker Casillas, the former Spain goalkeeper, tweeted on Sunday to say that he is gay, only to remove the message later in the day, the Telegraph reports.
"The 41-year-old, who retired in 2020 after a distinguished career with Spain, Real Madrid and Porto, wrote: 'I hope you respect me: I'm gay.'"
"It is still unclear whether the messages are genuine, a joke or the result of a hack," adds the Telegraph.
But the Daily Mail suggest the tweet may have been "a joke in response to dating rumors."
The Spanish language website AS reports that Casillas recently was said to be dating a possible romance with actress Alejandra Onieva. On a recent Spanish talk show, a source said that they have been dating in recent weeks.
"Other Spanish outlets, such as Marca, suggest that the ex-Madrid star tweeted this as he is tired of couples being attributed to him — which he has grown fairly accustomed to," writes the Daily Mail.
If the tweet is true, Casillas wold be one of the highest profile footballers to come out. Before deleting it, the tweet had more than 250,000 likes.
But others are calling it a bad joke on Casillas' part if not true.
Openly gay Australian football, Josh Carvallo hit out at the Spanish legends, as he tweeted: '@IkerCasillas and @Carles5Puyol joking and making fun out of coming out in football is disappointing.
'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.'
Over his career, Casillas made 725 appearances for Real Madrid, winning five La Liga titles and three Champions League finals during his 25 years with the club. He also captained Spain to three consecutive major international titles in the 2008 and 2012 European Championship, either side of the 2010 World Cup.
He moved to the Portuguese club Porto and helped the team when the country's league title in in 2017-18. But in 2019 he suffered "acute myocardial infarction" due to an undetected heart condition and retired in 2020 as a result.
According to Spanish news outlet AS, the tweet may have been posted in response to rumors about his dating life that have made their way into the media.
In May this year Jake Daniels, the 17-year-old Blackpool striker, became the first current male professional footballer in Britain to come out publicly as gay.
The Sun reports that Casillas split from his wife model Sara Carbonero in March 2020, admitting their love had "taken separate paths." They remained close to continue the "marvelous job" of raising their two children.
Following the tweet, Casillas was sent thousands of messages of support while former Spain team-mate Carles Puyol replied: "It's time to tell our story, Iker," along with a heart and kiss emoji.
"The post comes just days after he furiously shut down rumors linking him romantically with Shakira — who herself recently split from footballer partner Gerard Pique," adds the Sun.