Vidal slammed for referencing Enke's tragic suicide as he describes his goal

Former Barcelona and Juventus star Arturo Vidal has been heavily criticised by fans after making a suicide comment on Twitch.

The Chilean midfielder, who currently plays for Athletico Paranaense, referenced former Germany international Robert Enke, who took his life while Vidal was playing in the Bundesliga at Bayer Leverkusen.

The goalkeeper committed suicide on November 10, 2009 at a level crossing in Neustadt, a town in Germany close to his home.

Enke's widow Teresa revealed that he had been suffering from depression for six years, and police confirmed a suicide note had been left by the 32-year-old before his death.

Interacting with fans in a chat via Twitch, Vidal referenced the suicide while describing his first ever goal for Bayer Leverkusen on September 23, 2007.

'That was my first goal in Europe with Bayer Leverkusen,' Vidal said on Twitch, laughing. He then added: 'Hey, that goalkeeper later had depression and killed himself.'

Enke played eight times for Germany and represented a host of European outfits including Borussia Monchengladbach, Benfica, Barcelona and Hannover during his career.

The German's depression worsened after the passing of his two-year-old daughter Lara, who died of serious heart problems in 2006.

Fans swarmed to social media on Wednesday to criticise Vidal for the inappropriate comment.

One person tweeted: Vidal making fun of former German goalkeeper Robert Enke's suicide just shows what a disgusting human being he is.'

Another added: 'Joking about someone's suicide after losing his daughter is shameless behaviour from Arturo Vidal, he kinda said that Robert Enke killed himself because of his goal, while he could just talk about his goal without mentioning anything about the goalkeeper. Such an unlikeable player.'

Other fans came to Vidal's defence however, insisting that he meant nothing malicious by the comment despite appearing to laugh initially.

'Arturo Vidal didn't laugh though, he clearly didn't mean anything harmful by it and his tone clearly changes when he mentions Robert Enke's suicide,' one fan said on Twitter.

'Yes, it's not a nice thing to bring up in that moment, but it wasn't malicious.'