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.