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Next Goal Wins star Michael Fassbender revealed his soccer loyalties, including which side he would pick on the international stage.

The Academy Award nominee sat down for a lengthy interview with Morning Footy, CBS Sports Golazo Network's daily show covering the latest in the sport. Fassbender was a timely guest ahead of the Nov. 17 release of Next Goal Wins, which is inspired by the 2014 documentary of the same name that centers on Thomas Rongen's stint as the head coach of American Samoa.

Fassbender was born in Germany but raised in Ireland and roots for both nations on the soccer pitch, but said he would pick Ireland over Germany if needed to.

"Ireland haven't really performed so well … in the last few years and so I always have Germany as a backup, which is not bad 'cause they perform pretty well but if it was to come down to it, if Germany was to play Ireland, I would have to say I would go for Ireland," he said. "I think my allegiance would lie there just 'cause we've got great supporters and we just haven't experienced anywhere near the success that Germany has experienced."

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As for his club of preference, Fassbender has backed Liverpool since he was about five years old. He said at the time he was growing up, the Reds and Manchester United were the default Premier League sides of choice in Ireland, but that he accidentally became a Liverpool fan by accepting unwanted gear from his cousin.

"My cousin who I always looked up to, Thomas, was a Man United supporter," the actor said. "Guess he wanted to give me a present as an older cousin so he gave me this Liverpool stuff and I thought it was because he was a Liverpool fan."

Fassbender has only been to Anfield once, but it was on an incredibly memorable occasion. It was for the 2019 Champions League semifinal match in which the Reds came back from a 3-0 deficit to beat FC Barcelona 4-3 on aggregate. Liverpool went on to win the Champions League that season.

"I went with a friend of mine, Connor, and he said we've got these tickets. Obviously we'd organized them weeks in advance and he was like, 'Do you still want to go?,'" he said. "It was over, the Champions League idea or dream that year, and I was like, 'We have to go. Of course we're going to go.' 

"As soon as I arrived in the stadium -- the Anfield atmosphere and the Liverpool supporters are so unique. The hairs were standing up on the back of my neck. There's just this atmosphere in the stadium before the game even started, was incredible, and then to witness what they did. I'm such a fan of Jurgen Klopp, his whole mentality, that never give up type attitude was something to really witness that night. It was so inspirational to see that team of players that night do the impossible because you really thought anything is possible. That's the great thing about sport. You have those moments."

The inspiration factor sports can deliver is one of the things that attracted Fassbender to Next Goal Wins, alongside the prospect of working with Oscar winner Taika Waiti, who directed and co-wrote the film.

"He's such an interesting filmmaker, a very exciting filmmaker," he said of Waititi. "It's such an endearing story, the underdog story, just that sort of attitude in life to just go for it regardless of your ability, and in this case on a world stage, to just give it your all and follow your passion. It's sort of intoxicating, that message, for me."

As for portraying Rongen, one of the sport's most eccentric figures, Fassbender said he opted out of doing an impression and let the protagonist serve more as inspiration while he stuck to the story at hand.

"I never met him personally," he said about Rongen. "I just had the footage from the documentary and then whatever I could find on YouTube and to be fair to Thomas as well, once we got on set and once we started to approach the story itself, it's not like there's a lot in there.

"For one, I didn't even try to do the Dutch accent. I spoke to Taika early on in preparation for it and I was like, 'What do we do with the accent?' He was like, "You know, I don't think people are really going to understand what you're trying to do,' and also just the nature of the way we were filming, quite a lot of improvisational stuff, I just stuck to my own accent so then in terms of just how we wanted to tell the story and the way that we were approaching it, the essence of Thomas is hopefully there and honestly, some of the real crucial backstory of his life is obviously there but I couldn't say that I did justice to Mr. Rongen. I hope he's not offended, let me put it that way."

That did not stop him from doing an impersonation of Klopp, though. The actor was asked if he would like to start a streak of playing soccer figures by choosing between the Liverpool manager or Steven Gerrard and picked the former. He said "it is one of my missions or dreams to actually meet him" about Klopp, adding that he finds him "very inspirational."

Despite his soccer connections, Fassbender admitted that he is not actually a huge fan of the sport. He follows Formula One much more closely after picking up an affinity for motorsports from his grandfather, and describes Schumacher as a "hero" and gave compliments to current drivers Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen.

"I'm not a huge football fan, I have to say," he said. "I'll make that confession. In terms of sports, motorsport is really what I follow."

His sport of choice means it probably should come as no surprise when Fassbender was asked whether or not he would choose to win an Academy Award if it meant Liverpool would not win silverware for the next decade.

"I'd take the Academy Award," he quipped. "We won it after, I don't know, what was it, 25 years or something like that? I'd take another 10, yeah. I'll take the Academy Award."