Alex Caruso
Photo: Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images

Los Angeles Lakers fan-favorite Alex Caruso is a big football (soccer) fan, supporting English Premier League outfit Manchester City. The 26-year-old guard will face RB Leipzig and USA national team midfielder Tyler Adams in a FIFA tournament organised by Bleacher Report. Before the tournament Caruso answered football-related questions.

You’re a big Manchester City fan. What is your expectation for the rest of the season and if Champions League comes back, how far do you think they’re going to go?

Caruso: “Obviously Liverpool is going to win the Premier League, but hopefully we’re going to run the table again in the FA Cup and finish that out. I say ‘we’ because obviously I’m a part of the team… Champions League was honestly one of our best competitions or at least they played their best. After that Madrid tie, I was just feeling good coming back home, so me and my friends who are all Manchester City fans were talking into existence, we thought we were going to win the Champions League with the whole allegation and legal activity going on. We’re hoping that we’re going to finish it out, win the Champions League and see where the future goes.”

Who is your favourite Manchester City player and why?

Caruso: “If it’s all time, I’d say Vincent Kompany. His resume speaks for itself, but he seems like a great dude. Right now our best player is probably [Kevin] De Bruyne. Hard to go against De Bruyne, but I’m also a big Sterling fan, Bernardo Silva fan, but De Bruyne is just so good… some of the passes he makes are just ridiculous. It’s like for me playing with guys like LeBron [James] or [Rajon] Rondo, who can throw some ridiculous passes. That’s a part of the game that I love and I think that’s why I like De Bruyne so much.

How did you become a soccer fan?

Caruso: “Between my freshman and sophomore year at college, one of my best friends lived with his brother and we’d go out Friday nights, hang out and then wake up early Saturday mornings and watch Premier League games. Then we started playing FIFA and that’s where the love for the game grew. To be honest, FIFA is the real reason I probably started watching soccer more and more.”

Do you play soccer at all?

Caruso: “I haven’t in a while, I used to in college. We had our sports rec program at the outdoor fields and we’d go around and mess around, pick up soccer a couple of times, but I never played soccer growing up, that and baseball are the two things that people are always surprised because it’s the two things you play as a kid. I got the mind for it, but I have the skills of a defender, I’m winning all the balls in the box.”