The mood at their home stadium was decidedly gloomy during the weekend fixture. The home side was losing against Torino, an opponent that had allowed ten goals while netting just two in their most recent five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were finishing their ongoing dissent in a long-running conflict with chairman Claudio Lotito.
A Season Falling Apart?
Had their campaign falling apart, or had there never been a binding element maintaining its structure in the first place? Lazio reinstated Maurizio Sarri as manager in the summer transfer window, only for him to later acknowledge that the board had not mentioned the transfer ban they were about to receive for financial irregularities. Speculation that he might quit were without basis, but he stated that Lotito had "swindled" him.
The Biancocelesti were just as chaotic in their performances as they were off it, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in their other first five games, featuring the derby della Capitale. From one game to the next, observers have struggled to ascertain if they're getting better or collapsing.
Matteo's Unexpected Comeback
A single player kept smiling through it. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to feature for Lazio this year. He spent last season on loan at Parma and, at the start of the off-season, his parent club were pushing for him to remain there for another season. The registration embargo necessitated a reconsideration. They were unable to weaken their team lacking backup options.
He signed in the first place during Sarri's previous tenure, at that time a 20-year-old alumnus of Verona's academy. He recorded 20 league appearances for Lazio in that campaign, all but one of those from the bench. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended at the end of that season, subsequently claimed Sarri of "telling everyone Cancellieri was destined for stardom only to bench him consistently."
Finding His Natural Fit
Maybe Sarri was persistently working to identify the nature of the player's talent. Labeled as an attacking winger on arrival, Cancellieri nevertheless spent most of that campaign as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. During 63 outings while playing for Empoli and Parma in the past two years, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
