The feeling at the Stadio Olimpico was far from happy on Saturday afternoon. Lazio were trailing against Torino, an opponent that had conceded a total of 10 goals while managing only two goals in their last five league matches. Ultras from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their most recent demonstration in a continuous dispute with club owner Claudio Lotito.
A Season Falling Apart?
Was Lazio's season unraveling, or had there never been a binding element keeping it intact from the beginning? Lazio reinstated Maurizio Sarri as head coach this summer, but then he publicly stated that the board had omitted to inform him about a registration embargo they were set to be hit with for accounting issues. Rumours that his departure was imminent were unfounded, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "misled" him.
Lazio became as messy on the pitch as they were off it, defeating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in the remaining initial five matches, featuring the derby della Capitale. At any given moment, it has been hard to ascertain if progress is being made or imploding.
Cancellieri's Surprising Comeback
A single player kept smiling through it. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to be at Lazio this season. He was on the last one at Parma as a loanee and, during the summer break, Lazio were pushing for him to remain there temporarily. The registration embargo necessitated a reconsideration. Lazio could not afford to weaken their team without replacements.
He signed in the first place when Sarri was last in charge, at that time a 20-year-old product of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 Serie A appearances for Lazio in the 2022-23 season, all but one of those coming off the bench. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, who left following that term, later stated Sarri of "telling everyone Cancellieri would be a star but then not selecting him."
Discovering His Natural Fit
Perhaps the manager was persistently working to identify the nature of his skill set. Labeled as an attacking winger upon signing, Cancellieri instead found himself the majority of that term as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile as center forward. During 63 outings on loan at Empoli and Parma over the last two seasons, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn
