The atmosphere at Lazio's home ground was anything but joyful on Saturday afternoon. Lazio were trailing against Torino, a team that had allowed 10 goals while managing only two goals in their most recent five league matches. Supporters from the Curva Nord were finishing their most recent demonstration in a continuous dispute with president Claudio Lotito.
This Year's Efforts Unraveling?
Was Lazio's season coming unstitched, or had there never been a thread maintaining its structure to start with? Lazio reinstated Maurizio Sarri as head coach in the summer transfer window, but then he publicly stated that the board had failed to disclose a registration embargo they were set to be hit with for accounting issues. Reports that his departure was imminent were not true, but he stated that Lotito had "deceived" him.
The Biancocelesti were just as chaotic on the pitch as they were off it, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in the rest of their opening fixtures, which included the capital clash. At any given moment, observers have struggled to determine if they're getting better or self-destructing.
Matteo's Unexpected Return
A single player continued to smile amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to be at Lazio during this campaign. He completed the previous campaign with Parma on loan and, during the summer break, his parent club were pushing for him to extend his stay for another season. The transfer ban led to a change of plans. The club couldn't risk to weaken their team with no new signings.
He joined initially during Sarri's previous tenure, back then just 20 years old product of Verona's academy. He recorded 20 matches in the league for Lazio in that campaign, almost all of those as a substitute. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, who departed at the end of that season, subsequently claimed Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri would be a star but then not selecting him."
Discovering His True Position
It's possible the coach was persistently working to work out the specific characteristics of Cancellieri's abilities. Labeled as an attacking winger upon signing, Cancellieri yet was deployed for most of that campaign as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile as center forward. In 63 appearances while playing for Empoli and Parma in the past two years, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
