In the battle between two winless sides, it was Lecce who made the better start to proceedings at the Gewiss Stadium. Riccardo Sottil threatened Marco Carnesecchi’s bottom corner when he drove a low shot inches past the far post, before Tete Morente forced the Atalanta goalkeeper into action with the game’s first shot on target.
However, the visitors were made to rue the fact that they failed to take advantage of those promising moments, as they fell behind in the final 10 minutes of the first period.
Defender Giorgio Scalvini put his recent injury struggles behind him to power a header home from Nicola Zalewski’s inviting corner, registering his first goal since June 2024.
After being dealt a setback before the break, Lecce’s task got much tougher when they shipped a second within seven minutes of the restart.
De Ketelaere collected Nikola Krstovic’s layoff, and neatly set it out of his feet to place a clinical strike out of Falcone’s reach.
With confidence now oozing through the hosts, Zalewski went agonisingly close to adding a swift third when he curled a free-kick onto the crossbar, before Falcone reacted quickly to thwart Mario Pasalic from the subsequent rebound.
Krstovic then spurned a glorious chance to net against his former employers, dragging his close-range effort wide just as he seemed to have the goal at his mercy.
Krstovic’s poor miss was quickly forgotten, as Juric’s charges ran riot with two goals in four minutes.
Zalewski fired a reverse shot past the wrong-footed Falcone to make it three, before De Ketelaere raced away from the Lecce backline to net his second of the contest.
While the game was gone, Michael N'dri produced a sublime individual goal to give the travelling support a brief moment of positivity.
There was still time for the offside flag to deny Atalanta a fifth, but that mattered very little, as they celebrated a win that moves them onto five points and leaves the visitors on one point.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Charles De Ketelaere (Atalanta)