The atmosphere at their home stadium was anything but joyful during the weekend fixture. The Biancocelesti found themselves behind against Torino, a team that had allowed ten goals while scoring only two 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.
The Campaign Falling Apart?
Had their campaign unraveling, or had there never been a binding element keeping it intact in the first place? Lazio reinstated Maurizio Sarri as head coach in the summer transfer window, only for him publicly stated that the management had failed to disclose a registration embargo they were about to receive for financial irregularities. Reports that he might quit were not true, but he stated that Lotito had "misled" him.
Lazio were just as chaotic during matches as off the field, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but falling short in the remaining opening fixtures, featuring the derby della Capitale. At any given moment, it's been difficult to determine if they're getting better or self-destructing.
Matteo's Surprising Presence
A single player kept smiling throughout. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to be at Lazio during this campaign. He was on the previous campaign at Parma as a loanee and, early this summer, his parent club were pushing for him to stay there temporarily. The signing restriction forced a rethink. The club couldn't risk to weaken their team with no new signings.
Cancellieri arrived in the first place when Sarri was last in charge, back then just 20 years old product of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 league appearances for Lazio in the 2022-23 season, almost all of those as a substitute. The ex- sporting director, Igli Tare, who left at the end of that season, would later accuse Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri was destined for stardom but then not selecting him."
Finding His Best Role
Perhaps the manager was still trying to work out the specific characteristics of the player's talent. Labeled as a flank player when he joined, Cancellieri nevertheless spent the majority of that term as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile at No 9. Across 63 games while playing for Empoli and Parma in the past two years, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn
