The mood at their home stadium was far from happy during the weekend fixture. The Biancocelesti found themselves behind against Torino, a team that had allowed 10 goals while netting just two in their previous five league matches. Ultras from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their latest protest in an ongoing feud with chairman Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Falling Apart?
Was Lazio's season unraveling, or did there exist any cohesion keeping it intact to start with? They reappointed Maurizio Sarri as manager in the summer transfer window, only for him to later acknowledge that the club had not mentioned a ban on new signings they were set to be hit with for accounting issues. Reports that he might quit were unfounded, but he did say that Lotito had "misled" him.
Lazio became as messy in their performances as they were off it, defeating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in the rest of their opening fixtures, including the Rome derby. From one game to the next, it has been hard to determine if progress is being made or collapsing.
The Youngster's Surprising Comeback
One individual continued to smile throughout. Matteo Cancellieri had not been expected to be at Lazio during this campaign. He completed the previous campaign on loan at Parma and, during the summer break, Lazio were pushing for him to extend his stay for another season. The transfer ban led to a change of plans. They were unable to weaken their team with no new signings.
Cancellieri arrived in the first place under Sarri's first spell, back then just 20 years old product of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 Serie A appearances for Lazio in that campaign, the vast majority of those as a substitute. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended at the end of that season, would later accuse Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri would be a star but then not selecting him."
Uncovering His Best Role
Perhaps the manager was persistently working to determine the nature of Cancellieri's abilities. Originally described as a wide forward when he joined, Cancellieri yet was deployed for the majority of that term as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile in the striker role. In 63 appearances during spells with Empoli and Parma during recent campaigns, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
