Former Spain goalkeeper Iker Casillas has claimed his Twitter account was hacked after a post appeared saying he was gay.

The message under the World Cup-winning keeper’s blue tick-verified account read in Spanish: “I hope I’ll be respected: I’m gay.”

It appeared along with the hashtag “HappySunday,” also in Spanish, and was ‘liked’ 250,000 times, creating a social media stir.

But, dozens of homophobic comments also appeared, and it was later removed – and replaced with another tweet apologising.

The replacement tweet said: “Hacked account. Luckily, everything in order. Apologies to all my followers. And of course, more apologies to the LGBT community.”

Partly fuelled by one response from ex-Barcelona captain, Carles Puyol, speculation mounted the original tweet to Casillas’s more than ten million followers, had, in fact, been a joke – something which has been criticised by supporters of the LGBTQ+ community.

Puyol, Casillas’s international teammate, had posted: “It’s time to tell them about us,” and signed the message off with a heart and a kissing emoji.

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That tweet has since also been deleted.

Adelaide United left-back Josh Cavallo branded it “beyond disrespectful”.

Cavallo came out as gay last October and it one of the few active male footballers to be publicly LGBTQ+.

He said it was “disappointing” to see role models “make fun” of coming out.

Reports in Spain suggested Casillas’s first tweet may have appeared in response to rumours circulating in the media about his post-divorce dating.

Casillas and his wife Sara, a TV presenter, spilt up last year after five years’ marriage.

The original tweet had come a day after Spanish media reported he was in a relationship with a local actress.

Casillas is considered a legend of Spanish football after being capped 167 times for his country and making more than 700 appearances for Real Madrid.

In May, Blackpool’s Jake Daniels became the UK’s first male professional footballer to come out publicly as gay since Justin Fashanu in 1990.

He retweeted Cavallo’s tweet.

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