Two late goals broke Lecce hearts as AC Milan cemented their grip on third place in Serie A with a last-gasp win at the San Siro.
Ronaldinho and Filippo Inzaghi scored in second-half stoppage time to move Milan to within five points of second-placed Juventus, who were held to a draw earlier today.
Lecce arguably had the better chances of a lacklustre contest which only came to life when the 90 minutes were up, but the visitors nevertheless left beaten and still mired in the bottom three.
David Beckham was named on the bench for the first time since joining Milan in January with Kaka returning to the starting XI.
Beckham sat alongside Ronaldinho and Andriy Shevchenko on a star-studded bench but it was the latter pair who saw action as the England international stayed on the sidelines for the full 90 minutes.
Milan lacked creativity up front with Alexandre Pato and Inzaghi failing to spark.
There were even fewer chances at the other end as Lecce rarely managed to break free. The closest they came to scoring in the opening period was from Simone Tiribocchi's speculative volley after 10 minutes.
It was perhaps a sign of desperation that Pato tried his luck from fully 30 yards in the 34th minute, although the effort surprised Lecce goalkeeper Francesco Benussi who had to scurry across his line as the ball curled just inches wide.
Pato almost put the home side ahead with a determined run from deep late in the first half but he fired wide of the far post with only Benussi to beat.
After Mathieu Flamini missed the first opportunity of the second half for Milan, coach Carlo Ancelotti rang the changes by brining on Ronaldinho for the ineffective Clarence Seedorf.
Ronaldinho was soon into the action and it was his crossfield ball to Gianluca Zambrotta which was the starting point for Milan's best chance of the half as the Italy full-back crossed for Pato who fluffed his lines from eight yards.
Gianni Munari forced Milan goalkeeper Dida into a good stop from a Tiziano Polenghi cross in the 62nd minute before Munari turned provider for Tiribocchi to head a glorious chance wide.
Benussi made a spectacular save to push a Ronaldinho free-kick away three minutes from time, but he could do little about the breakthrough goal from the Brazilian moments later.
Philippe Senderos was unlucky not to be the man celebrating the goal for Milan as his goal-bound header nicked off the head of Ronaldinho and into the net.
Just to rub salt into Lecce's wounds, Inzaghi added a second for the hosts moments later, heading in a cross from Shevchenko to seal the win.
