The mood at their home stadium was far from happy during the weekend fixture. Lazio were trailing against Torino, a team that had let in 10 goals while managing only two goals in their previous five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were finishing their most recent demonstration in a long-running conflict with president Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Unraveling?
Was Lazio's season coming unstitched, or did there exist a thread keeping it intact from the beginning? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as head coach in the summer transfer window, before he admitted that the management had not mentioned a registration embargo they were facing for accounting issues. Speculation that his departure was imminent were unfounded, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "misled" him.
The Roman club were just as chaotic in their performances as behind the scenes, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in their other first five games, which included the capital clash. From one game to the next, observers have struggled to ascertain if progress is being made or self-destructing.
Matteo's Unforeseen Presence
At least one man remained positive amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to be at Lazio this season. He completed last season with Parma on loan and, early this summer, Lazio were advocating for him to stay there a while longer. The registration embargo led to a change of plans. Lazio could not afford to thin their squad with no new signings.
He joined initially under Sarri's first spell, at that time a 20-year-old alumnus of Verona's academy. He recorded 20 matches in the league in Lazio colors in that campaign, all but one of those coming off the bench. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended at the end of that season, would later accuse Sarri of "telling everyone Cancellieri had superstar potential but then not selecting him."
Discovering His True Position
It's possible the coach was persistently working to work out the specific characteristics of the player's talent. Originally described as an attacking winger upon signing, Cancellieri yet was deployed for much of that season as an unconvincing alternative to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. Across 63 games during spells with Empoli and Parma during recent campaigns, his tally was seven goals. Shoehorn
