“I can’t believe it. I can’t believe it. Football. Bloody hell. But they never gave in. And that’s what won it.”
Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson’s famous reaction, moments after his team had clinched an unprecedented treble of major titles in 1999, could easily be appropriated for what happened in Osaka on Sunday.
Replace football with sumo, switch they for he, and you have the perfect encapsulation of top-division rookie Takerufuji’s stunning and history-making Emperor’s Cup win in the Spring Grand Sumo Tournament.