The feeling at Lazio's home ground was far from happy during the weekend fixture. The Biancocelesti found themselves behind against Torino, an opponent that had let in ten goals while scoring only two in their most recent five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their ongoing dissent in a continuous dispute with president Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Unraveling?
Had their campaign coming unstitched, or had there never been a binding element holding it together to start with? Lazio reinstated Maurizio Sarri as manager during the off-season, only for him to later acknowledge that the board had failed to disclose the transfer ban they were facing for accounting issues. Reports that he might quit were without basis, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "misled" him.
The Roman club became as messy during matches as off the field, defeating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in their other opening fixtures, featuring the derby della Capitale. Throughout this period, it has been hard to determine if progress is being made or collapsing.
Cancellieri's Unexpected Return
At least one man continued to smile through it. Matteo Cancellieri had not been expected to be at Lazio this season. He was on the last one at Parma as a loanee and, early this summer, his parent club were advocating for him to extend his stay a while longer. The registration embargo forced a rethink. Lazio could not afford to thin their squad without replacements.
He signed in the first place during Sarri's previous tenure, back then just 20 years old graduate of Verona's academy. He recorded 20 matches in the league for Lazio in the 2022-23 season, the vast majority of those from the bench. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, who departed after that campaign, would later accuse Sarri of "telling everyone Cancellieri would be a star only to bench him consistently."
Uncovering His Best Role
Perhaps the manager was continuing to attempt to identify the specific characteristics of the player's talent. Originally described as a wide forward when he joined, Cancellieri instead found himself most of that campaign as an unconvincing alternative to Ciro Immobile as center forward. Across 63 games on loan at Empoli and Parma in the past two years, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
