Arsenal's Per Mertesacker abused online after posting tribute to tragic Robert Enke

 
Tribute: Per Mertesacker received abuse after posting a message in tribute to his friend Robert Enke (Picture: Getty)
Alexandra Rucki11 November 2014

Arsenal footballer Per Mertesacker has received a torrent of abuse online after he posted a tribute to German goalkeeper Robert Enke, who committed suicide in 2009.

The centre back tweeted a message last night on the anniversary of his former teammate’s death reading: “Remembering a great footballer and friend – Robert Enke. @EnkeStiftung #gedENKEn.”

Twitter abuse: anti-Semitic comments were made by some users

Mr Enke was just 32 when he killed himself by walking in front of a moving train after suffering from depression.

He played for the German squad from 2007 to 2009 at the same time as Mr Mertesacker.

But dozens of internet trolls posted anti-Semitic and racist abuse under the tribute and criticised the 30-year-old’s footballing skills.

One user, posting under the handle @InteriorWrighty, wrote: “You’re slow, s***, and your ancestors killed Jews. At least one of those were good.”

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">Per Mertesacker gets twitter abuse following a message in message of his friend, the late Robert Enke... I really, truly despair.— Amy Lawrence (@amylawrence71) <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/amylawrence71/status/531926531137097728" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-147881-https://twitter.com/amylawrence71/status/531926531137097728" data-vars-event-id="c23">November 10, 2014</a>

Another social media user wrote “Work on your heading”, while others posted “You tall s***.”

But others were quick to show their support and criticised the actions of the trolls.

Lille D wrote: "Hi Per, I'm sorry for the abuse you received when you tweeted about your friend Robert. Sadly,even Arsenal have some stupid fans."

Mr Mertesacker, who quit the German team earlier this year after winning the FIFA World Cup, stopped using Twitter two years ago after receiving abuse from Arsenal fans following a match against Norwich. He returned to the micro-blogging site in January this year.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in