The atmosphere at Lazio's home ground was anything but joyful during the weekend fixture. The Biancocelesti found themselves behind against Torino, a team that had allowed 10 goals while scoring only two in their most recent five league matches. Ultras from the Curva Nord were finishing their ongoing dissent in a long-running conflict with chairman Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Coming Unstitched?
Was the team's progress coming unstitched, or did there exist a binding element maintaining its structure in the first place? They reappointed Maurizio Sarri as head coach during the off-season, before he to later acknowledge that the board had not mentioned the transfer ban they were set to be hit with for financial irregularities. Reports that his departure was imminent were not true, but he stated that Lotito had "misled" him.
The Biancocelesti became as messy in their performances as behind the scenes, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but losing the rest of their opening fixtures, featuring the derby della Capitale. Throughout this period, observers have struggled to tell if progress is being made or collapsing.
Cancellieri's Surprising Comeback
At least one man kept smiling throughout. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to feature for Lazio this season. He completed the previous campaign with Parma on loan and, early this summer, Lazio were advocating for him to stay there for another season. The signing restriction led to a change of plans. They were unable to weaken their team without replacements.
He signed originally under Sarri's first spell, then a 20-year-old graduate of Verona's academy. He recorded 20 matches in the league with the club in the 2022-23 season, the vast majority of those from the bench. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, who left after that campaign, would later accuse Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri would be a star only to bench him consistently."
Finding His Best Role
It's possible the coach was persistently working to identify the exact type of Cancellieri's abilities. Billed as a flank player on arrival, 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 in the past two years, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
