The mood at Lazio's home ground was far from happy during the weekend fixture. The Biancocelesti found themselves behind against Torino, a side that had allowed a total of 10 goals while scoring only two in their most recent five league matches. Ultras from the Curva Nord were finishing their ongoing dissent in an ongoing feud with chairman Claudio Lotito.
A Season Falling Apart?
Had their campaign unraveling, or was there ever any cohesion keeping it intact to start with? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as manager this summer, only for him publicly stated that the management had failed to disclose the transfer ban they were about to receive for fiscal problems. Speculation that he could resign were not true, but he did say that Lotito had "deceived" him.
The Roman club were just as chaotic on the pitch as they were off it, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but losing the remaining initial five matches, featuring the derby della Capitale. From one game to the next, observers have struggled to tell if they are improving or collapsing.
Cancellieri's Unexpected Comeback
At least one man kept smiling amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to feature for Lazio this year. He was on the last one at Parma as a loanee and, early this summer, his parent club were advocating for him to remain there a while longer. The signing restriction forced a rethink. The club couldn't risk to thin their squad without replacements.
He joined initially under Sarri's first spell, at that time a 20-year-old alumnus of Verona's academy. He made 20 matches in the league with the club in that campaign, almost all of those as a substitute. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, who left after that campaign, would later accuse Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri would be a star only to bench him consistently."
Discovering His Natural Fit
It's possible the coach was still trying to determine the specific characteristics of his skill set. Labeled as a wide forward upon signing, Cancellieri nevertheless spent much of that season as an unconvincing alternative to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. In 63 appearances while playing for Empoli and Parma during recent campaigns, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn
