Inzaghi sends Milan second

The 35-year-old scored two headers, both assisted by David Beckham, and secured the match ball with a close-range finish following a Ronaldinho through-ball to make it 3-0.

A Kaka penalty and a late Massimo Ambrosini strike completed the rout, with Ivan Franceschini grabbing a consolation for the visitors.

The result moves Milan ahead of Juventus on goal difference in an automatic Champions League place.

The title race is all but over, with champions Internazionale taking a 10-point lead into the final six games.

The evergreen Inzaghi took his career goals total to 276 with a triple that showed him at his predatory best. Over 15 years at the top have not dimmed his appetite for goals.

Inzaghi showed his striker's instinct - as well as his tendency to stray beyond the last man - as early as the ninth minute, when he netted an superb glancing header from a Beckham cross but saw his effort chalked off for offside.

The Englishman's supply line kept coming, and in the 13th minute Inzaghi ghosted away from his marker to head in a Beckham corner.

Eight minutes before half time the pair linked up again, as Milan came away on the break. Pato found Beckham who chose not to shoot and instead clipped a sensational pass onto the forehead of Inzaghi who sent the ball flashing past Matteo Sereni.

For all the flair and intricacy of Pato and Kaka, it was Milan's two most direct players who actually got the job done. The space and time afforded to Beckham by Torino meant he could hardly fail to deliver cross after cross into dangerous areas.

On the hour mark, the hat-trick was complete when substitute Ronaldinho slid a through-ball through the middle and Inzaghi planted the ball into the net.

With that, he was off, his work done and Andriy Shevchenko brought on in his place.

There was still time for Milan to confirm their superiority. Sereni clumsily brought down Ambrosini on 68 minutes and Kaka buried the penalty.

Franceschini pulled one back, but in the final minute Ambrosini restored the four-goal advantage with a deft finish after being fed by Kaka.