The feeling at their home stadium was anything but joyful 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 wrapping up their latest protest in a long-running conflict with chairman Claudio Lotito.
A Season Unraveling?
Was Lazio's season unraveling, or did there exist any cohesion keeping it intact to start with? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as manager during the off-season, only for him to later acknowledge that the board had not mentioned a registration embargo they were facing for financial irregularities. Rumours that he might quit were unfounded, but he stated that Lotito had "swindled" him.
The Biancocelesti were just as chaotic during matches as behind the scenes, 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 are improving or collapsing.
The Youngster's Unforeseen Presence
At least one man kept smiling through it. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to remain with Lazio this season. He spent the previous campaign at Parma as a loanee and, early this summer, Lazio were pushing for him to stay there for another season. The signing restriction necessitated a reconsideration. They were unable to reduce their roster without replacements.
He joined initially under Sarri's first spell, at that time a 20-year-old alumnus of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 league appearances for Lazio in that campaign, almost all of those coming off the bench. The ex- sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended after that campaign, would later accuse Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri was destined for stardom then never playing him."
Discovering His Best Role
Maybe Sarri was continuing to attempt to identify the nature of Cancellieri's abilities. Billed as an attacking winger on arrival, Cancellieri instead found himself the majority of that term as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile as center forward. During 63 outings on loan at Empoli and Parma over the last two seasons, his tally was seven goals. Shoehorn
