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Match Summary

• Joao Pedro gives Chelsea the lead in the opening period.
• Atalanta the stronger side after the interval and equalise through Gianluca Scamacca.
• Charles de Ketelaere grabs a late decisive goal for the home side.
• The defeat means Chelsea drop to eleventh place in the group stage of the Champions League.
• The leading eight teams qualify automatically for the knockouts.

Chelsea's hopes of securing a place automatically for the European Cup knockout stages were suffered a setback as their Italian opponents came from behind to triumph in Bergamo.

Both sides entered this match with the same records in the league phase of this season's tournament, having secured three victories, tied one, and suffered one defeat to sit on 10 points.

For much of the game there was very little to distinguish them in this encounter too, although Chelsea took the lead in the opening 45 minutes when Joao Pedro turned in Reece James' cross.

But The Serie A side consistently appeared a danger going forward, with ex- Charlton and Everton attacker Ademola Lookman problems for the defence.

James shot wide in the after the break but the home team upped the pressure and rightfully drew level when former West Ham United striker nodded home a centering pass.

The winger hammered a powerful shot straight at the goalkeeper but they secured the winning goal in the closing stages when the Blues defenders backed off the midfielder, who made no mistake with a low finish.

The visitors attempted to rescue a draw in stoppage time but a brilliant stop by Marco Carnesecchi denied Joao Pedro.

The outcome means Chelsea drop out of the automatic qualification places—the positions that qualify automatically for the knockouts—to eleventh with two league phase games left to play.

Atalanta, meanwhile, climb up to third place, three points clear of the Blues.

Blues Breakdown - Concerning Sequence Continues

This was a deeply disappointing outcome for Chelsea as even a draw was leaving them in a strong position to achieve the top-eight finish they need to avoid the uncertainty of the qualifying play-off round.

But they let their concentration slip in their defensive duties with seven minutes left on the clock and Atalanta took full advantage.

The Italian side are in rich vein of form at the moment so this was always going to be a difficult examination for the visitors, but they will be annoyed to be leaving with nothing after securing the lead.

But the wider issue is that this continues Chelsea's troubling streak of results in all tournaments.

Since beating Barcelona 3-0 at the close of November they are now without a win in their last four games.

Excessive Changes Proving Expensive?

Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca made five rotations for this match as he persisted with his strategy of moving players in and out of the first team.

The changes here followed after he implemented the identical amount for the defeat to Leeds United and six for the draw with Bournemouth prior to the journey to Atalanta.

Maresca will view rotation as necessary as he tries to manage players' minutes and compete both at home and abroad, but he maintained the core group of players stays the unchanged for important games.

"I believe in this match [in] the first XI we had eight or nine players who featured against Tottenham, Barcelona, and Arsenal," he commented.

"If you look at the five alterations that we did relative to the previous game it is a change but it is the eight or nine players playing in that match.

"The ones who took to the field tonight are the ones playing almost all the games."

What Next for These Clubs?

Chelsea's next European game sees them welcome the Cypriot side on Wednesday, 21 January (8pm GMT).

The Italian team, on the other hand, are at home to Athletic Club at the identical kick-off time.