Matteo Cancellieri, Diogo Leite and Nicolò Rovella all scored as Lazio beat Mgarr United 3-0 at the Mirko Fersini in Formello. Mgarr United are a team from the Maltese second division, and Cancellieri put the hosts in front in the 30th minute before Leite added a second in the 36th and Rovella finished it off in the 51st.
Cancellieri and the scorers
The goal from Cancellieri fits a player who has already been involved more than a cameo option this season. He has 7 Serie A appearances, 334 minutes across his recent league run and 1 league goal, so the finish against Mgarr United was backed by more than a one-off training-ground moment.
Leite and Rovella gave the scoreline a neat shape, but the result itself should stay in its lane. Lazio won a friendly against a lower-tier opponent, and the value sat in the spread of scorers rather than any bigger claim about where the team stands right now.
Minutes for returning players
The other story was the way Gennaro Gattuso managed the afternoon. Albert Guðmundsson played the first half as a playmaker in a 4-2-3-1, Rovella got an hour in midfield alongside Cataldi, and Gattuso rested Noslin and Taylor ahead of Lecce.
That workload is the real reason the game mattered beyond the score. Rovella has made just 2 Serie A appearances and played 127 league minutes this season, while Guðmundsson has 3 league appearances for Lazio. The friendly gave both a clean block of minutes, and it also let Lazio keep some bodies fresh for the next league outing.
Written by Daniel Hartley with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 1 outlet. How we work →
