The mood at their home stadium was far from happy during the weekend fixture. The home side was losing against Torino, a team that had allowed a total of 10 goals while netting just two in their last five league matches. Supporters from the Curva Nord were concluding their ongoing dissent in a continuous dispute with chairman Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Falling Apart?
Had their campaign unraveling, or did there exist a binding element maintaining its structure from the beginning? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as manager this summer, only for him admitted that the board had failed to disclose a ban on new signings they were set to be hit with for financial irregularities. Speculation that he could resign were not true, but he did say that Lotito had "misled" him.
The Biancocelesti became as messy in their performances as they were off it, defeating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in the rest of their first five games, featuring the derby della Capitale. Throughout this period, it's been difficult to determine if they are improving or self-destructing.
Cancellieri's Unforeseen Return
One individual kept smiling amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to feature for Lazio during this campaign. He completed the previous campaign on loan at Parma and, at the start of the off-season, his parent club were advocating for him to extend his stay a while longer. The registration embargo led to a change of plans. The club couldn't risk to thin their squad with no new signings.
He joined originally during Sarri's previous tenure, back then just 20 years old alumnus of Verona's academy. He recorded 20 league appearances in Lazio colors in 2022-23, all but one of those as a substitute. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, who left following that term, later stated Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri had superstar potential only to bench him consistently."
Discovering His Best Role
Maybe Sarri was still trying to determine the exact type of his skill set. Billed as an attacking winger when he joined, Cancellieri instead found himself the majority of that term as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile as center forward. Across 63 games during spells with Empoli and Parma during recent campaigns, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn
