Iker Casillas pressed delete only after the clip on his X account had already crossed 1.9 million views and more than 30,000 likes, according to Sportskeeda. He reposted it on Wednesday evening in Spain, with Spanish daily OK Diario publishing its coverage at 21:39 local time, and the post was gone from his profile by Thursday morning.

The caption did the heavy lifting. “El pez muere por su propia boca. Saquen sus propias conclusiones”, or “the fish dies by its own mouth, draw your own conclusions”, is a Spanish proverb about talk that eventually traps the talker.

What followed in the clip was an inventory of promises Cristiano Ronaldo had made in public and the record Lionel Messi had built in response. Ronaldo saying he valued Golden Boots over the Ballon d’Or because they are not decided by votes, cut to Messi’s six against Ronaldo’s four. Ronaldo saying his dream was to win the World Cup, cut to Messi lifting it in Qatar in 2022. Ronaldo saying he wanted the most Ballon d’Or titles in history, cut to Messi’s eight against Ronaldo’s five. The montage closed with Xavi calling Messi the best player in the world, Ronaldo dismissing the praise because Xavi was playing in the Middle East, and footage of Ronaldo later signing for Al Nassr.

The jab landed on Ronaldo’s worst week in years

On Tuesday night in Buenos Aires, Messi closed his Argentina career with a penalty and two assists in a 3-0 win over Benin, scoring the 126th and final goal of a 208-cap international run, per ESPN.

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Twenty-four hours later, Ronaldo was still in the middle of a public row with Portugal head coach Jorge Jesus. He had walked out of the Portugal camp before the Nations League meeting with Denmark, having been an unused substitute in the 2-1 win over Norway in Oslo on 27 September. In a statement issued on Wednesday, Ronaldo accused Jesus of twice breaking an agreement about his minutes. “The coach had broken his word to me”, he wrote in the statement reported by Sky Sports, saying he had “decided to leave the training camp without waiting for any further broken promises.” Jesus has denied any such agreement.

Six seasons together, then a public jab

Casillas and Ronaldo were Real Madrid teammates for six seasons between 2009 and 2015, winning the 2013/14 Champions League together. Casillas eventually left for Porto in 2015, two years after his well-documented falling-out with former manager Jose Mourinho, who had already departed the club in 2013.

Casillas has not posted anything else on the matter since the repost disappeared from his feed. The compilation itself is still circulating on X through accounts that archived it before he pulled the original.

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