The mood at Lazio's home ground was far from happy during the weekend fixture. The home side was losing against Torino, an opponent that had conceded ten goals while netting just two in their previous five league matches. Supporters from the Curva Nord were concluding their most recent demonstration in an ongoing feud with president Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Unraveling?
Was the team's progress coming unstitched, or had there never been a binding element holding it together to start with? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as head coach during the off-season, but then he admitted that the board had not mentioned a registration embargo they were facing for fiscal problems. Reports that his departure was imminent were unfounded, but he stated that Lotito had "swindled" him.
Lazio were just as chaotic on the pitch as behind the scenes, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in the remaining initial five matches, which included the capital clash. Throughout this period, it has been hard to determine if they are improving or self-destructing.
Matteo's Unexpected Comeback
A single player kept smiling amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri had not been expected to be at Lazio this season. He completed last season on loan at Parma and, at the start of the off-season, his owning club were attempting to extend his stay a while longer. The registration embargo necessitated a reconsideration. Lazio could not afford to weaken their team with no new signings.
He signed initially when Sarri was last in charge, at that time a 20-year-old product of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 matches in the league in Lazio colors in that campaign, almost all of those from the bench. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, who left following that term, would later accuse Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri would be a star but then not selecting him."
Uncovering His True Position
It's possible the coach was continuing to attempt to identify the nature of his skill set. Billed as a flank player when he joined, Cancellieri nevertheless spent much of that season as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. Across 63 games on loan at Empoli and Parma during recent campaigns, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn
