Legendary Spain and Real Madrid goalkeeper Iker Casillas on Sunday announced that he is gay and has asked for “respect”. Casillas had taken to Twitter to write, “I hope you respect me: I’m gay.” The veteran footballer made the announcement a year after separating from sports journalist Sara Carbonero, to whom he was married for five years and the couple had two children together.
After making the statement on Twitter, the 41-year-old received a lot of support from his fans, including former teammate and Barcelona legend Carlos Puyol, who replied to him, writing “It’s time to tell our stories, Iker.” However, moments later he deleted the post.
According to a Spanish publication, AS, Casillas’ tweet was in response to all the rumours about his possible relationship with his former sister-in-law Alejandra Onieva. Meanwhile, last month, he was asked if he was dating Gerard Pique’s ex-wife Shakira.
Casillas had drawn curtains on his illustrious career back in 2020 after he had suffered a cardiac arrest while training with his last club, Porto. The Spanish international has won a World Cup, two European Championships, five La Liga trophies and three Champions League trophies during his career of 22 years. He spent the major part of his career at Real Madrid, which he had joined at the age of nine and later went on to win 19 titles with the club while also captaining the side.
Overall, he made 167 appearances for Spain and 510 for Real Madrid during his career. For his final club, Porto, he played 116 matches.