The win gave the six-times European champions 10 points, five ahead of second-placed Lille with two games to play.

A draw in their next match at AEK Athens would be enough to send Milan through to the knockout phase.

It was another inspired performance by Kaka, who also scored a superb long-range goal when Milan beat Anderlecht 1-0 in Belgium two weeks ago.

The 24-year-old put the hosts ahead from the penalty spot in the seventh minute, after Roland Juhasz tripped Alberto Gilardino, then scored once more in each half before Juhasz pulled one back for the visitors just after the hour mark.

Any lingering hopes Anderlecht's players might have harboured about fighting their way back into the contest were blown away, however, when Alberto Gilardino restored Milan's three-goal cushion late on.

"He's exceptional. He can do absolutely anything," delighted Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti said of Kaka.

"For me, he's the best player in the world at the moment. I don't think anyone could complain if he won the Golden Ball.

"Overall, we played very well tonight, particularly at the start of the game, when we were running at them."

Milan were in control for long periods of the match and Kaka's penalty was the result of sustained early pressure.

His second goal -- a lovely, curling shot into the top corner after a one-two with Cafu -- followed near misses by team mates Ricardo Oliveira and Dario Simic.

Anderlecht played more aggressively after the break. Congolese striker Mohamed Tchite got in a couple of snapshots, though neither was on target.

After Kaka's third, though, the odds were heavily stacked against an Anderlecht comeback.

Once again the goal came out of a solo run by the Brazilian but this time, instead of running directly at the opposition, he cut round a defender on the edge of the area before angling a right-footed shot past keeper Daniel Zitka.

When Juhasz headed Anderlecht's consolation goal from a corner, Milan briefly looked rattled.

Left back Marek Jankulovski almost complicated what should have been a trouble-free night when he botched a clearance and the ball skewed off the post, while Tchite fired in a dangerous ball from close range that Dida managed to smother on his line.

Two minutes from time, however, Cristian Brocchi launched a long ball forward for Gilardino who broke the offside trap and thumped in Milan's fourth goal.