Lazio forward Matteo Cancellieri put the biancocelesti ahead at home against Milan, only to watch his contribution absorbed by a Milan recovery that ended the match 2-2 — a result that left Ivan Gattuso's side with a point where three had seemed possible.
The draw matters because Lazio had built something worth protecting. Four matches into the 2026-27 Serie A season, Gattuso's side sit first in the table with ten points from three wins and a draw, conceding just three goals. A victory against Milan would have extended that margin with authority. Instead, the gap between Lazio's early-season promise and their ability to close out matches has been exposed for the first time in four games.
For Cancellieri, the goal is the headline but the rating tells a more complicated story. Across four Serie A appearances this season, the 24-year-old carries an average match rating of 6.95 — solid, consistent, but not yet the kind of figure that separates a contributor from a decisive force. His Coppa Italia appearance for the current campaign, in a competition separate from Serie A, produced neither a goal nor an assist. The pattern is of a player who does enough, often at the right moment, without yet imposing himself on the full shape of a match.
An AI overall of 66 out of 100, with a potential of 72, frames Cancellieri as a player still in the process of becoming rather than one who has arrived. At 24, that ceiling is not distant. The question is whether the moments — an opener here, a rating that rarely dips — can accumulate into something more structurally significant.
Gattuso, for his part, was vocal after the final whistle. The Lazio coach described the atmosphere at the ground — where Milan supporters reportedly outnumbered the home faithful — as reminiscent of the COVID period, a pointed remark about the conditions his team had been asked to perform in. Whether that context softens the dropped points or sharpens the demand for a response next week, Lazio's position at the summit of Serie A remains the clearest evidence that this squad is functioning. Cancellieri's task is to ensure his own numbers grow alongside it.