The feeling at the Stadio Olimpico was decidedly gloomy during the weekend fixture. Lazio were trailing against Torino, a side that had let in a total of 10 goals while managing only two goals in their most recent five league matches. Supporters from the Curva Nord were concluding their ongoing dissent in a long-running conflict with club owner Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Unraveling?
Was Lazio's season coming unstitched, or did there exist a binding element holding it together to start with? They reappointed Maurizio Sarri as manager during the off-season, only for him to later acknowledge that the board had omitted to inform him about the transfer ban they were set to be hit with for accounting issues. Rumours that he might quit were not true, but he did say that Lotito had "deceived" him.
The Roman club appeared equally disorganized in their performances as off the field, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in the rest of their first five games, including the Rome derby. From one game to the next, observers have struggled to ascertain if they are improving or imploding.
The Youngster's Surprising Comeback
One individual kept smiling amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to be at Lazio this year. He completed the previous campaign on loan at Parma and, at the start of the off-season, his owning club were advocating for him to remain there for another season. The transfer ban necessitated a reconsideration. Lazio could not afford to thin their squad lacking backup options.
He joined in the first place during Sarri's previous tenure, at that time a 20-year-old product of Verona's academy. He recorded 20 league appearances for Lazio in 2022-23, almost all of those coming off the bench. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, who departed after that campaign, subsequently claimed Sarri of "telling everyone Cancellieri was destined for stardom but then not selecting him."
Finding His Natural Fit
Maybe Sarri was persistently working to work out the exact type of his skill set. Labeled as an attacking winger when he joined, Cancellieri instead found himself most of that campaign as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile at No 9. During 63 outings during spells with Empoli and Parma in the past two years, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
