Kobe Bryant is a huge football fan.

The Los Angeles Lakers star spent much of his childhood in Italy, and he looked up to Rossoneri legends including Marco van Basten and Franco Baresi.

But Bryant's love of the beautiful game doesn't end there. In addition to Milan, the NBA legend also holds a special admiration for Spanish giants Barcelona.

He shared that affection with former Barca striker Thierry Henry recently, and he backed them to become the first team in the UEFA Champions League era to defend the trophy.

"I think they can do it," he said. "I think that the style of play that they have is such a difficult style to catch up to. It’s comparable to how we used to win championships with the triangle offence. ... It’s very, very tough to stop them."

It's hard to argue with that.

[YouTube: NBA]