Napoli decisively ended Lecce’s 100% home record in Serie A with a 4-0 win at the Via del Mare stadium.
Goals from Leo Ostigard and substitutes Victor Osimhen and Gianluca Gaetano put the visitors in control before Matteo Politano converted a penalty in stoppage time.
Both teams started the day in the top six with 11 points from six games, but Rudi Garcia’s men did well to claim their fourth win of the campaign to keep the pressure on the Milan sides.
Garcia made three changes from the convincing 4-1 defeat to Udinese in midweek, with Matias Olivera, Giovanni Simeone and Jesper Lindström replacing Mario Rui, Osimhen and Politano.
Napoli took the upper hand early in sunny Puglia and Lecce, the surprise of the season, struggled to impress.
The visitors’ early initiative was rewarded in the 16th minute when they took the lead as centre-back Østigård headed Piotr Zielinski’s free-kick from the left flank unopposed.
Lecce won just three home matches last season but have already beaten Lazio, Salernitana and Genoa this time around and were revived by the deficit.
Roberto D’Aversa’s men, who made their best start to the end of a Serie A season with a 1-0 defeat to Juventus on Tuesday, began to threaten in the 25th minute when Nikola Krstovic made a low diving save from goalkeeper Alex Meret .
Centre-back Marin Pongracic then missed Salentini’s best chance of the first half on the half hour, firing home from seven yards from a corner from the right.
However, Napoli finished the half strongly and could have led at half-time by more than one goal.
In the last five minutes of the first half, Simeone saw a powerful right-footed shot wide of the goal, Vladimir Falcone saved Zielinski’s shot, then Khvicha Kvaratskhelia almost hit the target with a free-kick.
Osimhen replaced Simeone in the second half and doubled Napoli’s lead six minutes later with his fifth goal of the season, hitting the post from close range with a header from Kvaratskhelia’s cross.
Gabriel Strefezza scored against the visitors in the 57th minute with a close-range header, but Krstovic had him ruled out for handball.
With the Champions League match against Real Madrid coming up on Tuesday, Garcia has changed his players, initially replacing Lindström and Kvaratskhelia with Giacomo Raspadori and Politano.
Raspadori’s low left-foot shot was saved by Falcone in the 67th minute before Jens-Lies Cajuste replaced Stanislav Lobotka with 14 minutes remaining.
Lecce failed to find the breakthrough needed for a tense finish and Napoli made it 3-0 when Gaetano, the last of five substitutes, extended their lead two minutes from time.
Less than five minutes after entering the field, the attacking midfielder fired powerfully from the penalty area.
There was still time for a fourth goal as Politano sent Falcone the wrong way from the spot after Ilber Ramadani was penalized for a foul on Gaetano.
