Atalanta boosted their hopes of securing European football next season after cruising to a 3-0 win over Lecce at the Stadio Via del Mare.
The result moved La Dea to within a point of Serie A’s top six and also marked their third straight away victory over Lecce in the league for the first time in their history.
With AS Roma having suffered a heavy defeat to Inter Milan earlier in the weekend, Atalanta had a chance to strengthen their push for European qualification, although they were slow to settle in Salento.
Lecce threatened first, but Sadik Fofana wasted a decent opportunity when he fired over the bar after being found by a cross from Ylber Ramadani.
Once Atalanta found their rhythm, Charles De Ketelaere began to cause problems. The Belgian forced a fine save from Lecce goalkeeper Wladimiro Falcone after combining well with Nikola Krstovic.
Atalanta eventually made the breakthrough just before the half-hour mark. De Ketelaere slipped a pass through to Giorgio Scalvini, who surged past Oumar Ngom before firing into the net for his third goal of the campaign.
The visitors continued to dominate and nearly doubled their advantage before half-time. Krstovic came close on two occasions against his former club, first heading over and then seeing a stronger effort kept out by Falcone.
Lecce boss Eusebio Di Francesco made changes at the break, introducing Omri Gandelman, but Atalanta remained firmly in control.
Ederson thought he had made it 2-0, only for the offside flag to deny him, while Falcone was once again called into action to stop De Ketelaere.
The second goal finally arrived when De Ketelaere set up Krstovic, who calmly found the bottom corner against his old club. It was the striker’s seventh away goal in his last nine matches.
Atalanta eased through the closing stages but still found time for a third goal, with Giacomo Raspadori firing home a powerful finish after Falcone had denied Ederson once more.
The victory extended Atalanta’s unbeaten run against Lecce to you a European place, while Lecce stayed in the relegation zone and extended their winless run against top-half sides to 17 league games.
