The atmosphere at their home stadium was anything but joyful on Saturday afternoon. The Biancocelesti found themselves behind against Torino, a side that had conceded 10 goals while netting just two in their most recent five league matches. Supporters from the Curva Nord were concluding their ongoing dissent in an ongoing feud with president Claudio Lotito.
A Season Unraveling?
Was Lazio's season coming unstitched, or did there exist a binding element keeping it intact in the first place? They reappointed Maurizio Sarri to lead the team during the off-season, only for him to later acknowledge that the management had omitted to inform him about a registration embargo they were about to receive for financial irregularities. Speculation that he might quit were unfounded, but he stated that Lotito had "misled" him.
Lazio were just as chaotic in their performances as off the field, defeating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but losing the remaining first five games, which included the capital clash. At any given moment, observers have struggled to tell if they are improving or collapsing.
Cancellieri's Surprising Comeback
One individual kept smiling amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to be at Lazio during this campaign. He was on the last one at Parma as a loanee and, early this summer, his parent club were advocating for him to stay there temporarily. The transfer ban forced a rethink. They were unable to thin their squad with no new signings.
He joined in the first place when Sarri was last in charge, at that time a 20-year-old alumnus of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 matches in the league for Lazio in that campaign, the vast majority of those as a substitute. The ex- sporting director, Igli Tare, who left at the end of that season, would later accuse Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri was destined for stardom but then not selecting him."
Finding His True Position
Perhaps the manager was continuing to attempt to work out the nature of his skill set. Billed as an attacking winger upon signing, Cancellieri nevertheless spent much of that season as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. In 63 appearances during spells with Empoli and Parma in the past two years, his tally was seven goals. Shoehorn
