The mood at Lazio's home ground was anything but joyful during the weekend fixture. Lazio were trailing against Torino, an opponent that had allowed a total of 10 goals while managing only two goals in their previous five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were finishing their ongoing dissent in a long-running conflict with club owner Claudio Lotito.
A Season Falling Apart?
Had their campaign unraveling, or did there exist any cohesion keeping it intact to start with? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri to lead the team this summer, but then he admitted that the management had failed to disclose a ban on new signings they were facing for fiscal problems. Rumours that his departure was imminent were not true, but he stated that Lotito had "deceived" him.
The Roman club appeared equally disorganized on the pitch as behind the scenes, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in the rest of their opening fixtures, which included the capital clash. At any given moment, it has been hard to determine if progress is being made or imploding.
The Youngster's Unforeseen Comeback
At least one man kept smiling through it. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to remain with Lazio this year. He was on the last one at Parma as a loanee and, early this summer, Lazio were advocating for him to remain there for another season. The transfer ban forced a rethink. Lazio could not afford to reduce their roster with no new signings.
Cancellieri arrived in the first place under Sarri's first spell, at that time a 20-year-old graduate of Verona's academy. He made 20 league appearances in Lazio colors in the 2022-23 season, almost all of those from the bench. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, who departed at the end of that season, later stated Sarri of "telling everyone Cancellieri would be a star but then not selecting him."
Discovering His Best Role
Maybe Sarri was continuing to attempt to determine the exact type of his skill set. Originally described as a flank player upon signing, Cancellieri instead found himself much of that season as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile as center forward. Across 63 games while playing for Empoli and Parma over the last two seasons, his tally was seven goals. Shoehorn
