The atmosphere at the Stadio Olimpico was decidedly gloomy this past Saturday. Lazio were trailing against Torino, a side that had conceded 10 goals while managing only two goals in their most recent five league matches. Ultras from the Curva Nord were finishing their ongoing dissent in a long-running conflict with chairman Claudio Lotito.
This Year's Efforts Unraveling?
Was Lazio's season coming unstitched, or did there exist a thread keeping it intact to start with? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as manager during the off-season, before he to later acknowledge that the board had omitted to inform him about a ban on new signings they were set to be hit with for accounting issues. Reports that he might quit were without basis, but he did say that Lotito had "deceived" him.
Lazio were just as chaotic during matches as they were off it, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but losing their other first five games, which included the capital clash. From one game to the next, it's been difficult to tell if they are improving or imploding.
The Youngster's Surprising Comeback
A single player kept smiling through it. Matteo Cancellieri had not been expected to remain with Lazio during this campaign. He completed last season on loan at Parma and, early this summer, his owning club were advocating for him to remain there for another season. The signing restriction forced a rethink. Lazio could not afford to weaken their team lacking backup options.
He joined in the first place during Sarri's previous tenure, then a 20-year-old alumnus of Verona's academy. He recorded 20 matches in the league with the club in 2022-23, the vast majority of those as a substitute. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, who left after that campaign, subsequently claimed Sarri of "telling everyone Cancellieri was destined for stardom then never playing him."
Finding His Best Role
It's possible the coach was persistently working to determine the nature of his skill set. Billed as an attacking winger when he joined, Cancellieri instead found himself the majority of that term as an unconvincing alternative to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. In 63 appearances during spells with Empoli and Parma over the last two seasons, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
