The mood at Lazio's home ground was decidedly gloomy during the weekend fixture. The home side was losing against Torino, a team that had conceded a total of 10 goals while scoring only two in their last five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were concluding their latest protest in an ongoing feud with chairman Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Falling Apart?
Was Lazio's season falling apart, or was there ever a binding element holding it together to start with? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as manager this summer, before he publicly stated that the management had not mentioned a ban on new signings they were facing for financial irregularities. Rumours that his departure was imminent were not true, but he stated that Lotito had "deceived" him.
Lazio became as messy in their performances as off the field, defeating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but losing the rest of their initial five matches, which included the capital clash. At any given moment, it has been hard to tell if progress is being made or imploding.
The Youngster's Unforeseen Comeback
A single player remained positive through it. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to be at Lazio during this campaign. He completed the last one at Parma as a loanee and, during the summer break, his parent club were advocating for him to extend his stay temporarily. The signing restriction forced a rethink. They were unable to thin their squad lacking backup options.
He signed originally during Sarri's previous tenure, back then just 20 years old product of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 Serie A appearances for Lazio in 2022-23, the vast majority of those from the bench. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, who left at the end of that season, would later accuse Sarri of "telling everyone Cancellieri was destined for stardom only to bench him consistently."
Discovering His Best Role
It's possible the coach was continuing to attempt to identify the nature of his skill set. Originally described as a wide forward when he joined, Cancellieri nevertheless spent the majority of that term as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile as center forward. During 63 outings while playing for Empoli and Parma in the past two years, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
