Stuttgart coach Markus Babbel has spoken for the first time about how his brother suffered the same fate as Robert Enke 20 years ago.
The 37-year-old told the Stuttgarter Zeitung newspaper how Enke's death last Tuesday had reminded him of an almost identical tragedy within his own family in 1989.
The death of Gerhard Babbel had practically been kept a secret by his younger brother, who broke his silence in the wake of Tuesday's events.
"It is a brutal fate, just like with my brother," he said.
Gerhard had also suffered from depression, just like Enke, and he threw himself in front of a train too, mirroring the circumstances of the former Hannover and Germany goalkeeper's death earlier this week.
"You think that everything is fine and you aren't really seriously worried, and then something happens," recalled Babbel, who was with the Germany youth team when his brother committed suicide near their home in Gilching, near Munich.
And that is where Babbel will be on Sunday when Enke's funeral takes place in Hanover.
"I think that is more important than for me to travel to Hanover," he added.
Babbel showed sympathy for Enke's plight, recalling how his brother's depression had also been suppressed from even his closest friends.
"You don't want to talk about it with everybody, and you cannot do so either," added Babbel.
