The feeling at the Stadio Olimpico was anything but joyful during the weekend fixture. Lazio were trailing against Torino, a team that had conceded 10 goals while netting just two in their previous five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were finishing their ongoing dissent in a long-running conflict with president Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Falling Apart?
Was Lazio's season falling apart, or was there ever any cohesion holding it together to start with? They reappointed Maurizio Sarri as head coach this summer, only for him publicly stated that the club had omitted to inform him about a registration embargo they were set to be hit with for accounting issues. Speculation that he might quit were not true, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "swindled" him.
The Biancocelesti appeared equally disorganized on the pitch as they were off it, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in the remaining initial five matches, including the Rome derby. From one game to the next, observers have struggled to tell if progress is being made or self-destructing.
Cancellieri's Unforeseen Comeback
A single player kept smiling amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to feature for Lazio this year. He completed the previous campaign with Parma on loan and, during the summer break, his parent club were advocating for him to extend his stay for another season. The transfer ban forced a rethink. The club couldn't risk to reduce their roster with no new signings.
He signed in the first place when Sarri was last in charge, then a 20-year-old graduate of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 league appearances for Lazio in the 2022-23 season, all but one of those coming off the bench. The ex- sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended following that term, would later accuse Sarri of "telling everyone Cancellieri would be a star only to bench him consistently."
Finding His True Position
Perhaps the manager was persistently working to identify the specific characteristics of Cancellieri's abilities. Originally described as a flank player when he joined, Cancellieri instead found himself much of that season as an unconvincing alternative to Ciro Immobile at No 9. Across 63 games while playing for Empoli and Parma over the last two seasons, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn
