The atmosphere at Lazio's home ground was decidedly gloomy during the weekend fixture. The Biancocelesti found themselves behind against Torino, a team that had let in a total of 10 goals while scoring only two in their most recent five league matches. Ultras from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their ongoing dissent in a long-running conflict with chairman Claudio Lotito.
A Season Falling Apart?
Had their campaign coming unstitched, or had there never been a binding element maintaining its structure in the first place? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri to lead the team in the summer transfer window, before he admitted that the club had omitted to inform him about a registration embargo they were facing for financial irregularities. Speculation that he could resign were without basis, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "deceived" him.
The Roman club appeared equally disorganized during matches as behind the scenes, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in the rest of their first five games, including the Rome derby. At any given moment, it has been hard to determine if progress is being made or collapsing.
The Youngster's Unforeseen Presence
At least one man continued to smile throughout. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to be at Lazio this year. He spent the previous campaign on loan at Parma and, early this summer, his owning club were advocating for him to remain there for another season. The registration embargo forced a rethink. The club couldn't risk to weaken their team lacking backup options.
He signed initially under Sarri's first spell, then a 20-year-old alumnus of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 league appearances for Lazio in 2022-23, almost all of those coming off the bench. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, who left at the end of that season, would later accuse Sarri of "telling everyone Cancellieri would be a star only to bench him consistently."
Finding His Natural Fit
Maybe Sarri was continuing to attempt to determine the nature of the player's talent. Billed as a wide forward upon signing, Cancellieri instead found himself much of that season as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile at No 9. Across 63 games while playing for Empoli and Parma over the last two seasons, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn
