A comfortable victory for Atalanta puts La Dea within one point of European football, at the expense of Lecce who remain stuck in the relegation zone, on goal difference.
Goals from Giorgio Scalvini, Nikola Krstović and Giacomo Raspadori saw Atalanta ease past Lecce, who remain the worst attack in Serie A, having failed to score in 16 of their 31 league matches.
The defeat keeps Lecce rooted in 18th place with 27 points, occupying the final relegation spot and trailing 17th-placed Cremonese on goal difference.
Meanwhile, Atalanta remain in 7th place, but are now trailing AS Roma, and the final European qualification spot, by just one point, following the Giallorossi‘s defeat to Inter Milan the previous day.
Story of the Match
Atalanta coach Raffaele Palladino made two changes as Krstović led the line against his former club, replacing Gianluca Scamacca, whilst Lorenzo Bernasconi started ahead of Matteo Ruggeri.
Lecce manager Eusebio Di Francesco made four changes, as Corrie Ndaba replaced the injured Antonino Gallo, while Sadik Fofana started over Omri Gandelman. Also, Lameck Banda returned in place of Riccardo Sottil, as Walid Cheddira was preferred over Nikola Stulic.
The home side had the first big chance of the game on the 10 minute mark, when Fofana latched onto a Ylber Ramadani cutback inside the box, but could only blast his shot comfortably over the crossbar.
A breakthrough finally came half an hour in, as Atalanta took the lead, when Charles De Ketelaere played through Scalvini, who charged into the box before turning his defender and slamming a right-footed finish across goal, beating keeper Wladimiro Falcone, as the ball hit the side-netting.
An excellent save from Falcone just before half time, prevented Krstović from scoring against his old club and kept the deficit down to one, as the hosts went into the break still just about in the contest.
Atalanta then thought they had doubled the lead just after the break, but an offside flag on Brazilian midfielder Ederson gave the home side a much needed reprieve.
The second goal did come soon though, as on the hour mark, De Ketelaere played provider once more when he slipped in Krstović near the penalty spot, as the Montenegrin forward turned swiftly and slotted the ball into the corner of the net, before displaying a muted celebration in respect of his former club.
A goal mouth scramble then gave Atalanta their third goal, when Raspadori smashed a left footed strike into the roof of the net, with 20 minutes of normal time still remaining.
Having sealed the victory, Atalanta then comfortably saw out the remainder of the game, as the victory put them within one point of AS Roma and the final European Qualification Spot.
