FA Cup: Yaya Toure motivated by brother's absence

Even if Yaya Toure and Manchester City claim the club's first trophy in 35 years at Wembley on Saturday, the midfielder's day will be tinged with sadness

The Ivory Coast international, who will be part of the City team that plays Stoke in the FA Cup final, left Barcelona for Manchester last summer because he wanted to play with his brother, Kolo.
But that was cut short when the former Arsenal player was suspended for failing a drugs test.
The defender's suspension has galvanised his brother and City teammates, who now aim to win the FA Cup for their absent colleague.
“Before I signed for City I told my brother Kolo I wanted to come to England to play with him, and to win something together,” Yaya Toure said.“That won't happen on Saturday, and that means it will be a hard moment for him, and for me as well.
“We have talked about the best way to win this cup, and he is supporting me and the team to win it. He said if we win the cup we will be winning it for him as well.”
In two weeks Toure's former Barca teammates will arrive at Wembley to contest the Champions League final against Manchester United.
It is a competition City will play in for the first time next season after securing fourth place by beating Tottenham on Tuesday. Toure insists City's achievements this season are justification for his big-money move to the Premier League and is adamant he made the right choice.
“If I had helped Arsenal or Chelsea or Manchester United to get to the Champions League, it would just be normal for them,” Toure said. “But for City this is the first time and to do it after making a lot of signings who played their first year, it is not easy.
“We have also shown we can do it without (Carlos) Tevez, who is a very important player for us - and Edin Dzeko and Mario Balotelli are both coming back (to form).”
It was Toure's goal against bitter rivals Manchester United that booked a place in the final for Roberto Mancini's side.
“It was fantastic, amazing because you score a very important goal to beat your big rivals,” he added. “United is the top club and to beat them in the semifinal is fantastic and now the dream can come true if we finish the job in the final.”
Doing that will be easier said than done, however, against a Potters team that the Eastlands club has beaten just once in its last six attempts.
And, for Toure, it will be an even tougher game than playing the local rivals.
“Will it be a harder game than United in the semi? I think so, yes,” Toure said. “It will be very, very tough because Stoke are a very physical team, very hard but we need to stick together.”