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A hat-trick from Filippo Inzaghi saw Milan cruise past Atalanta 3-0 in their Serie A encounter at the San Siro.

Inzaghi took just seven minutes to find the net before adding two goals in three minutes halfway through the second half as Milan looked effortless in victory.

Atalanta had plenty of chances to level the match just before half-time, but Christian Abbiati's goalkeeping kept the home side in front.

And following a quiet period after half-time, Milan began to dominate once again, with Inzaghi's 71st and 74th-minute strikes putting the match beyond doubt.

The result puts Milan five points clear of fourth-placed Fiorentina - who lost 2-0 at home to Palermo - with and in control of their own destiny with regard to securing the final automatic qualification spot for the Champions League.

David Beckham took to the field with plenty to celebrate after having secured an extension to his loan stint with the Italian side, and started in a playmaker position in the centre of the field playing just off Inzaghi and Alexandre Pato up front.

And from the start the Milan formation worked well, the home side dominating possession for much of the first half and creating a number of chances early on that quickly came to fruition as Inzaghi opened the scoring just seven minutes into the match.

Beckham's cross from the left caused all sorts of trouble for the Atalanta defence, and from the melee Gianluca Zambrotta latched on to the ball, ran to the left of the six-yard box and pulled the ball back for the striker to fire home.

Milan continued to push forwards with Beckham putting the marginally offside Inzaghi through on 16 minutes.

Three minutes later a 50-yard pass from Beckham found Pato clean through but the Brazilian blazed over Andrea Consigli's goal.

Atalanta had barely a touch of the ball to that point, but Jaime Valdes then made a terrific run to clear the way for Gyorgy Guarente to shoot.

The chance bolstered the visitors' confidence and they began to press their hosts for an equaliser - and only a string of superb saves from Christian Abbiati kept first Federico Peluso and then Gianvito Plasmati from scoring on 30 and 35 minutes respectively.

Plasmati had yet another attempt just before the break, a near-post header that Abbiati did brilliantly to save, but in the second half both teams tightened up significantly.

The flow of chances was reduced to a trickle for 20 minutes or so, but the match came back to life on 65 minutes when Atalanta winger Ferreira Pinto shot just wide of the left post with Abbiati out of position.

Milan seemed to wake up after the near-miss, and six minutes later they extended their lead as Pato's ball over the top and a lack of communication in defence allowed Inzaghi to stumble around Atalanta keeper Consigli and sidefoot into an empty net.

Just three minutes later he scored again, as Pato and Zambrotta combined brilliantly on the left to open the defence, and the latter's ball for Inzaghi gave the striker the easiest conceivable manner in which to notch up a hat-trick.

Milan had broken their visitors' spirit, and Pato nearly added another five minutes from time - but blazed his volley over the bar from the edge of the six-yard box.

It was an excellent all-round performance by Milan, with Beckham instrumental in dictating play as he roamed across the field. He, like, Inzaghi, was substituted late on to the roars of a standing ovation from the San Siro crowd.

Elsewhere, Fiorentina's 2-0 home defeat by Palermo came courtesy of two second-half goals from the mid-table Sicilians, who took the lead early in the second period.

Sebastien Frey had saved Fabrizio Miccoli's shot, but Miccoli scored a fine second on 56 minutes to stun the off-colour Florence club.

Lazio reignited their hopes of a UEFA Cup berth by winning 2-0 at Napoli thanks to Tommaso Rocchi's classy double. Early pacesetters Napoli have now not won in nine and coach Edy Reja is increasingly under pressure.

Towards the bottom, Serie A top scorer Marco Di Vaio netted the second hat-trick of the day to give Bologna a 3-0 win over inconsistent Sampdoria and take his season's tally to 19.

Reggina, four adrift at the foot of the table, drew 0-0 at second-bottom Lecce but were unlucky that Bernardo Corradi's effort was ruled not to have crossed the line.

Elsewhere, Siena put further distance between them and the relegation zone with a 3-0 win at Catania, Cagliari's faint European hopes took a hit with a 1-1 draw at 18th-placed Chievo and the bottom-of-the-table clash between Lecce and Reggina ended 0-0.

Toby Keel / Eurosport