🔗 Share this article

The feeling at their home stadium was decidedly gloomy during the weekend fixture. Lazio were trailing against Torino, an opponent that had conceded a total of 10 goals while netting just two in their last five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were finishing their latest protest in an ongoing feud with president Claudio Lotito.

A Season Coming Unstitched?

Was Lazio's season coming unstitched, or did there exist a binding element keeping it intact in the first place? They reappointed Maurizio Sarri as manager this summer, before he admitted that the board had not mentioned a registration embargo they were about to receive for accounting issues. Rumours that he might quit were unfounded, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "deceived" him.

The Biancocelesti were just as chaotic during matches as behind the scenes, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in their other opening fixtures, which included the capital clash. From one game to the next, it's been difficult to tell if they are improving or self-destructing.

Cancellieri's Unexpected Return

At least one man remained positive through it. Matteo Cancellieri had not been expected to be at Lazio this year. He was on the previous campaign at Parma as a loanee and, during the summer break, his parent club were pushing for him to stay there a while longer. The registration embargo necessitated a reconsideration. Lazio could not afford to reduce their roster with no new signings.

He signed initially under Sarri's first spell, then a 20-year-old product of Verona's academy. He recorded 20 league appearances in Lazio colors in the 2022-23 season, all but one of those from the bench. The ex- sporting director, Igli Tare, who left at the end of that season, would later accuse Sarri of "telling everyone Cancellieri would be a star only to bench him consistently."

Uncovering His Natural Fit

Perhaps the manager was still trying to identify the exact type of Cancellieri's abilities. Labeled as an attacking winger when he joined, Cancellieri instead found himself most of that campaign as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. Across 63 games during spells with Empoli and Parma in the past two years, his tally was seven goals. Shoehorn