The feeling at their home stadium was far from happy on Saturday afternoon. Lazio were trailing against Torino, a side that had allowed ten goals while scoring only two in their most recent five league matches. Ultras from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their latest protest in a continuous dispute with club owner 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? Lazio reinstated Maurizio Sarri as head coach this summer, before he admitted that the club had not mentioned a registration embargo they were facing for fiscal problems. Rumours that he could resign were without basis, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "misled" him.
The Biancocelesti appeared equally disorganized during matches as off the field, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in the rest of their opening fixtures, which included the capital clash. At any given moment, observers have struggled to ascertain if they're getting better or collapsing.
The Youngster's Unexpected Return
A single player kept smiling amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri had not been expected to remain with Lazio during this campaign. He was on the previous campaign with Parma on loan and, at the start of the off-season, his owning club were advocating for him to remain there temporarily. The registration embargo necessitated a reconsideration. They were unable to reduce their roster without replacements.
He joined in the first place under Sarri's first spell, at that time a 20-year-old alumnus of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 matches in the league in Lazio colors in that campaign, the vast majority of those from the bench. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, who left after that campaign, later stated Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri had superstar potential but then not selecting him."
Discovering His True Position
It's possible the coach was persistently working to identify the nature of the player's talent. Originally described as an attacking winger upon signing, Cancellieri nevertheless spent the majority of that term as an unconvincing alternative to Ciro Immobile as center forward. In 63 appearances while playing for Empoli and Parma in the past two years, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
