🔗 Share this article Matteo Cancellieri Demonstrates Glimpses of Genius in Silver Lining for Struggling Lazio The feeling at Lazio's home ground was far from happy on Saturday afternoon. Lazio were trailing against Torino, an opponent that had conceded 10 goals while netting just two in their most recent five league matches. Ultras from the Curva Nord were wrapping up their latest protest in a long-running conflict with president Claudio Lotito. The Campaign Falling Apart? Had their campaign coming unstitched, or had there never been a thread keeping it intact in the first place? The club brought back Maurizio Sarri as head coach during the off-season, before he publicly stated that the board had omitted to inform him about a ban on new signings they were set to be hit with for financial irregularities. Rumours that his departure was imminent were without basis, but he acknowledged that Lotito had "swindled" him. The Biancocelesti became as messy in their performances as they were off it, beating Verona 4-0 and Genoa 3-0 but being defeated in their other opening fixtures, including the Rome derby. From one game to the next, observers have struggled to tell if they're getting better or collapsing. Cancellieri's Surprising Return One individual kept smiling through it. Matteo Cancellieri was not even supposed to be at Lazio during this campaign. He completed last season on loan at Parma and, early this summer, Lazio were attempting to stay there temporarily. The transfer ban necessitated a reconsideration. The club couldn't risk to weaken their team lacking backup options. Cancellieri arrived originally under Sarri's first spell, at that time a 20-year-old alumnus of Verona's academy. He recorded 20 matches in the league with the club in that campaign, all but one of those from the bench. The club's longtime sporting director, Igli Tare, who departed following that term, would later accuse Sarri of "informing all Cancellieri was destined for stardom only to bench him consistently." Finding His True Position It's possible the coach was persistently working to work out the exact type of Cancellieri's abilities. Billed as a flank player upon signing, Cancellieri nevertheless spent the majority of that term as an ineffective backup to Ciro Immobile as center forward. Across 63 games on loan at Empoli and Parma in the past two years, he scored seven times. Shoehorn