The mood at their home stadium was anything but joyful during the weekend fixture. The Biancocelesti found themselves behind against Torino, an opponent that had let in a total of 10 goals while managing only two goals in their last five league matches. Fans from the Curva Nord were finishing their latest protest in a continuous dispute with chairman Claudio Lotito.
This Year's Efforts Unraveling?
Was Lazio's season coming unstitched, or did there exist a binding element keeping it intact from the beginning? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri to lead the team during the off-season, before he to later acknowledge that the management had not mentioned a registration embargo they were facing for financial irregularities. Speculation that he could resign were without basis, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "deceived" him.
The Roman club were just as chaotic during matches as off the field, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but losing their other opening fixtures, featuring the derby della Capitale. At any given moment, observers have struggled to determine if they are improving or collapsing.
Matteo's Unforeseen Return
A single player remained positive through it. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to be at Lazio this year. He completed the previous campaign at Parma as a loanee and, at the start of the off-season, Lazio were advocating for him to extend his stay a while longer. The transfer ban necessitated a reconsideration. Lazio could not afford to reduce their roster without replacements.
Cancellieri arrived in the first place during Sarri's previous tenure, then a 20-year-old alumnus of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 Serie A appearances in Lazio colors in that campaign, almost all of those as a substitute. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, who left at the end of that season, later stated Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri was destined for stardom only to bench him consistently."
Discovering His Best Role
Maybe Sarri was persistently working to determine the exact type of the player's talent. Billed as a wide forward when he joined, Cancellieri yet was deployed for most of that campaign as an unconvincing alternative to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. During 63 outings while playing for Empoli and Parma over the last two seasons, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn
