The atmosphere at Lazio's home ground was anything but joyful during the weekend fixture. The home side was losing against Torino, a side that had let in ten goals while scoring only two in their most recent five league matches. Supporters from the Curva Nord were concluding their latest protest in a long-running conflict with president Claudio Lotito.
A Season Unraveling?
Was Lazio's season coming unstitched, or had there never been a thread holding it together from the beginning? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as manager during the off-season, before he to later acknowledge that the management had omitted to inform him about a registration embargo they were set to be hit with for fiscal problems. Rumours that he could resign were without basis, but he did say that Lotito had "deceived" him.
The Roman club were just as chaotic in their performances as they were off it, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in their other opening fixtures, which included the capital clash. From one game to the next, it has been hard to determine if they are improving or self-destructing.
Matteo's Surprising Return
A single player continued to smile amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri had not been expected to be at Lazio this season. He spent last season at Parma as a loanee and, during the summer break, Lazio were pushing for him to extend his stay a while longer. The signing restriction necessitated a reconsideration. Lazio could not afford to weaken their team lacking backup options.
He joined in the first place when Sarri was last in charge, back then just 20 years old graduate of Verona's academy. He recorded 20 matches in the league in Lazio colors in the 2022-23 season, all but one of those from the bench. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, who left after that campaign, later stated Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri would be a star then never playing him."
Discovering His Natural Fit
Perhaps the manager was persistently working to work out the exact type of his skill set. Billed as an attacking winger when he joined, Cancellieri yet was deployed for the majority of that term as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile as center forward. Across 63 games while playing for Empoli and Parma over the last two seasons, his tally was seven goals. Shoehorn
