Fiorentina beat 10-man Atalanta 3-0 in Florence on Sunday evening to take sole possession of first place in Serie A.
Atalanta had defender Gabriel Paletta sent off for a red card in the fifth minute after he brought down Jakub Blaszczykowski in the area.
Josip Ilicic made no mistake from the resulting penalty to put the hosts ahead and the Viola doubled their lead in the 34th minute when Federico Bernardeschi spotted Borja Valero in the area and the Spaniard first home right-footed.
Fiorentina substitute Joan Verdu made it 3-0 seconds from time when he got on the end of Nikola Kalinic's pass to net.
The win lifted Fiorentina two points clear of nearest rivals Inter Milan, who drew 1-1 at Sampdoria earlier on Sunday, heading into the international break.
ends