Soccer Football - Serie A - AC Milan v Lecce - San Siro, Milan, Italy - April 6, 2024 AC Milan's Christian Pulisic celebrates scoring their first goal with Samuel Chukwueze REUTERS/Alessandro Garofalo
MILAN (Reuters) -Christian Pulisic, Olivier Giroud and Rafael Leao all scored as high-flying AC Milan earned a comfortable 3-0 win at home against Lecce in Serie A on Saturday after the visitors were reduced to 10 men minutes before the break.
Stefano Pioli's side extended their winning streak to seven matches across all competitions, which is their longest run since they won nine in a row under Carlo Ancelotti in 2006.
Milan, who on Thursday host AS Roma in the Europa League quarter-finals first leg, are second in the standings on 68 points.
They are nine points above third-placed Juventus, who are at home to Fiorentina on Sunday, and 11 behind Inter Milan who travel to 14th-placed Udinese on Monday.
"This is part of the mentality of my group," Pioli told DAZN. "It wasn't always a brilliant season, for a period we gritted our teeth and felt this suffering inside.
"We want to do everything we can to continue this positive period, we're fine now and we have to be so motivated in every single game.
"We want to finish second in the league and go all the way in the Europa League, we have to work hard."
Milan earned a quick two-goal advantage through Pulisic and Giroud inside 20 minutes to then comfortably control the game until halftime.
Lecce were left with 10 men just before the break when forward Nikola Krstovic saw a straight red for taking down Samuel Chukwueze before Rafael Leao made it 3-0 for the hosts after a solo run before the hour mark.
Pulisic gave Milan the lead in the sixth minute after Samuel Chukwueze broke into the box and crossed back to the U.S. midfielder, who netted with a curling effort from the edge of the area leaving Lecce keeper Wladimiro Falcone with no chance.
Giroud doubled the advantage for Milan from point-blank range following a corner in the 20th minute.
With his 13th league goal and seven games left in the campaign, the Frenchman has already equalled his scoring tally in the league from last season.
Leao completed the rout for Milan in the 57th minute.
The Portugal forward latched on a long pass by midfielder Yacine Adli from their own half and sent a low strike past Falcone.
Leao, who scored and assisted in Milan's 2-1 win at Fiorentina last weekend, has been directly involved in more goals across all competitions (14) than any other Serie A player in 2024 with eight goals and six assists.
Lecce, who suffered their first loss under new manager Luca Gotti, remained 13th with 29 points.
(Reporting by Anita Kobylinska in Gdansk, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
