The atmosphere 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 scoring only two in their most recent five league matches. Ultras from the Curva Nord were finishing their ongoing dissent in a continuous dispute with club owner Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Falling Apart?
Was Lazio's season falling apart, or had there never been a thread keeping it intact to start with? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri to lead the team in the summer transfer window, before he to later acknowledge that the club had not mentioned a ban on new signings they were set to be hit with for financial irregularities. Speculation that he might quit were not true, but he stated that Lotito had "misled" him.
The Biancocelesti appeared equally disorganized during matches as off the field, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but losing the remaining opening fixtures, which included the capital clash. Throughout this period, it has been hard to tell if they're getting better or self-destructing.
The Youngster's Unforeseen Return
At least one man continued to smile amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri wasn't originally meant to feature for Lazio during this campaign. He completed the previous campaign on loan at Parma and, at the start of the off-season, his parent club were advocating for him to stay there for another season. The transfer ban necessitated a reconsideration. Lazio could not afford to thin their squad without replacements.
Cancellieri arrived initially under Sarri's first spell, back then just 20 years old graduate of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 Serie A appearances in Lazio colors in that campaign, all but one of those as a substitute. The ex- sporting director, Igli Tare, whose tenure ended following that term, would later accuse Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri would be a star only to bench him consistently."
Finding His Natural Fit
Maybe Sarri was still trying to work out the exact type of the player's talent. Billed as an attacking winger when he joined, Cancellieri yet was deployed for most of that campaign as an unconvincing alternative to Ciro Immobile as center forward. Across 63 games during spells with Empoli and Parma in the past two years, he scored seven times. Shoehorn
