The feeling at their home stadium was anything but joyful this past Saturday. The Biancocelesti found themselves behind against Torino, a team that had allowed 10 goals while scoring only two in their previous five league matches. Supporters from the Curva Nord were finishing their ongoing dissent in a long-running conflict with club owner Claudio Lotito.
The Campaign Coming Unstitched?
Was Lazio's season falling apart, or was there ever a binding element keeping it intact in the first place? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as manager this summer, before he to later acknowledge that the club had omitted to inform him about a ban on new signings they were about to receive for fiscal problems. Reports that he might quit were unfounded, but he did say that Lotito had "deceived" him.
The Roman club became as messy in their performances as off the field, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but losing their other first five games, including the Rome derby. From one game to the next, it's been difficult to tell if progress is being made or collapsing.
Matteo's Unexpected Comeback
A single player continued to smile amid the chaos. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to feature for Lazio this year. He completed the last one with Parma on loan and, early this summer, his parent club were pushing for him to remain there a while longer. The transfer ban led to a change of plans. The club couldn't risk to weaken their team without replacements.
He joined in the first place when Sarri was last in charge, then a 20-year-old alumnus of Verona's academy. He made 20 matches in the league in Lazio colors in that campaign, almost all of those coming off the bench. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, who departed at the end of that season, would later accuse Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri was destined for stardom then never playing him."
Discovering His True Position
It's possible the coach was persistently working to identify the exact type of the player's talent. Originally described as a wide forward on arrival, Cancellieri instead found himself much of that season as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile as center forward. During 63 outings while playing for Empoli and Parma in the past two years, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn
