"I hope you’ll respect me: I'm gay," Casillas tweeted Sunday. The purpose of the message remains unclear, but the tweet was deleted after an hour.

What only added more fuel to the fire was a reaction from another former professional football player. Carles Puyol joined in on the joke, tweeting to Casillas: "It's time we tell our story". To that, Puyol added another heart and kiss emoji.

Puyol's tweet also disappeared from the platform. Moments later, he apologized. Casillas also came up with a response: his account would have been "hacked". He also expresses support for the LGBT+ community. His excuse is doubted in Spanish media, as there is currently a lot of gossip about the love life of the former goalkeeper. The tweet would poke fun at those rumours

Hacked or not, the tweet can count on a mountain of criticism. The same goes for gay footballer Josh Cavallo. "Casillas and Puyol making jokes about coming out in football is disappointing. That's a difficult process for any LGBT+ person. It's more than disrespectful to see my role models and such legends joke about it."