Real Madrid and Spain legend Iker Casillas has said his Twitter account was hacked after a post earlier on Sunday in which he had claimed to be gay.
Casillas shocked social media with the original tweet, which went viral around Sunday lunchtime and was later deleted without explanation.
"I hope you respect me: I'm gay. #happySunday" the original tweet said.
Many news outlets were quick to post the news of Casillas 'coming out', but the brevity of the statement aroused plenty of suspicion.
So too did a reply from the 41-year-old's former Spain team-mate Carles Puyol, who tweeted: "The time has come to tell our story, Iker."
Both Casillas and Puyol faced a backlash online after it was rumoured that the former Madrid goalkeeper had posted the tweet as a 'joke' because he had been romantically linked with various women in the media.
Casillas then deleted the post, which had been retweeted or quoted over 50,000 times, but offered no explanation at first.
Cuenta hackeada. Por suerte todo en orden. Disculpas a todos mis followers. Y por supuesto, más disculpas a la comunidad LGTB. 🙏October 9, 2022
That came later as he wrote on Twitter: ''Hacked account. Luckily everything in order. Apologies to all my followers. And of course, more apologies to the LGBT community.''
And Puyol said sorry for his reply to Casillas. "I have made a mistake," he said on Twitter.
"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."
Me he equivocado. Perdón por una broma torpe sin ninguna mala intención y absolutamente fuera de lugar. Entiendo que puede haber herido sensibilidades. Todo mi respeto y apoyo a la comunidad LGTBIQA+October 9, 2022
