Football
PA Sport 8y

Crystal Palace's Yannick Bolasie eyes FA Cup birthday present for mum

Yannick Bolasie hopes to give his mother a "special'' birthday present by inspiring Crystal Palace to win the FA Cup.

Palace face Manchester United on Saturday at Wembley, where Bolasie headed their opening goal in the semifinal defeat of Watford.

As a child he also played district football at the old Wembley for Brent Borough, but while that remains a fond memory his parents are the focus of his nostalgia this week.

Bolasie's father passed away at the start of the season and so will miss the biggest game of his son's career after being devoted to following him. Mother Yolande turns 54 on Saturday and, close to the family home in Willesden, Bolasie hopes to give her something to cherish.

"My dad followed all parts of my career and these kind of moments, now it's come and he's not there,'' said the 26-year-old winger. "Hopefully my mum will enjoy it because it's her birthday and hopefully I can make it special.

"Hopefully I can say the FA Cup [will be her present]. She'll be more than happy. She follows my football really closely and she is almost like my manager as well.

"[I could] try to get her a coach [to the stadium] but it doesn't make sense, Willesden to Wembley. You can't do that really. So I guess we'll do something [for her birthday] after.

"I [still] go back [home] a lot, my brothers are still there and she does a lot of cooking for me.''

While warming up for last month's 2-1 semifinal victory over Watford, Bolasie wore customised football boots which featured Wembley and his upbringing, but he changed them before kick off and is expected to do the same on Saturday.

"On one side of the boot it had the journey from my mum's house to Wembley, the road map highlighted in blue and obviously you can see the green and stuff,'' he explained.

"On the other side of the boot it had the Wembley arch, what I could see from my mum's bedroom, with a Palace flag on it, and just the Palace fans walking to Wembley Stadium. I'll probably stick with my trusted boots that I've worn all season.''

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