The atmosphere at Lazio's home ground was far from happy on Saturday afternoon. The Biancocelesti found themselves behind against Torino, an opponent that had let in a total of 10 goals while scoring only two in their previous five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were finishing their most recent demonstration in an ongoing feud with president Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Falling Apart?
Was Lazio's season unraveling, or was there ever a thread keeping it intact from the beginning? Lazio reinstated Maurizio Sarri as manager during the off-season, but then he publicly stated that the board had omitted to inform him about a registration embargo they were about to receive for fiscal problems. Speculation that he could resign were unfounded, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "misled" him.
The Biancocelesti were just as chaotic in their performances as behind the scenes, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in the rest of their opening fixtures, including the Rome derby. Throughout this period, observers have struggled to ascertain if progress is being made or collapsing.
The Youngster's Unexpected Comeback
One individual remained positive through it. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to be at Lazio this year. He completed the previous campaign with Parma on loan and, during the summer break, his parent club were advocating for him to extend his stay for another season. The registration embargo forced a rethink. They were unable to thin their squad without replacements.
He joined initially when Sarri was last in charge, back then just 20 years old graduate of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 Serie A appearances with the club in that campaign, the vast majority of those coming off the bench. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, who departed following that term, would later accuse Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri had superstar potential only to bench him consistently."
Discovering His Best Role
Maybe Sarri was still trying to work out the nature of the player's talent. Labeled as a wide forward when he joined, 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 in the past two years, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn
