🔗 Share this article Cancellieri Demonstrates Brief Sparks of Brilliance in Positive Aspect for Unstable Lazio The mood at the Stadio Olimpico was anything but joyful on Saturday afternoon. Lazio were trailing against Torino, a team that had conceded a total of 10 goals while managing only two goals in their last five league matches. Ultras from the Curva Nord were finishing their ongoing dissent in a long-running conflict with president Claudio Lotito. The Campaign Coming Unstitched? Had their campaign falling apart, or had there never been a binding element maintaining its structure in the first place? Lazio reinstated Maurizio Sarri as head coach in the summer transfer window, before he to later acknowledge that the management had omitted to inform him about the transfer ban they were about to receive for accounting issues. Speculation that he might quit were not true, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "deceived" him. Lazio were just as chaotic in their performances as they were off it, overcoming Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but losing the rest of their opening fixtures, which included the capital clash. Throughout this period, observers have struggled to tell if they are improving or imploding. Cancellieri's Surprising Comeback One individual continued to smile throughout. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to be at Lazio this season. He spent the last one on loan at Parma and, at the start of the off-season, his parent club were pushing for him to extend his stay for another season. The registration embargo forced a rethink. They were unable to thin their squad with no new signings. He signed initially during Sarri's previous tenure, at that time a 20-year-old alumnus of Verona's academy. He accumulated 20 Serie A appearances in Lazio colors in that campaign, all but one of those coming off the bench. Their former sporting director, Igli Tare, who departed at the end of that season, would later accuse Sarri of "promising everyone Cancellieri would be a star only to bench him consistently." Discovering His Best Role Maybe Sarri was continuing to attempt to identify the exact type of the player's talent. Originally described as a wide forward when he joined, Cancellieri instead found himself much of that season as a struggling deputy to Ciro Immobile at No 9. Across 63 games on loan at Empoli and Parma during recent campaigns, he netted seven goals. Shoehorn