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Match Summary

• Joao Pedro gives Chelsea the lead in the first half.
• The Italian outfit the stronger side after the break and equalise through Gianluca Scamacca.
• The Belgian attacker nets a late decisive goal for the home side.
• The defeat means Chelsea slide to 11th in the group stage of the Champions League.
• The top eight qualify automatically for the knockouts.

The London club's chances of securing a place automatically for the Champions League knockout stages were suffered a setback as their Italian opponents fought back to win in Bergamo.

Both sides entered this game with matching records in the league phase of this year's tournament, having secured three victories, tied one, and lost to sit on ten points.

For much of the game there was not much to choose between them in this contest too, even though Chelsea got their noses in front in the first half when Joao Pedro converted the captain's cross.

But Atalanta always looked a danger going forwards, with ex- Premier League attacker causing issues for the defence.

Reece James fired wide in the second half but the home team raised the intensity and rightfully equalised when former West Ham United striker Gianluca Scamacca a cross.

Alejandro Garnacho hammered a strong effort straight at the keeper but Atalanta got the winner late on when the Chelsea defence retreated from Charles de Ketelaere, who made no mistake with a low shot.

The visitors tried to rescue a point in stoppage time but a superb stop by the Atalanta goalkeeper kept out Pedro.

The outcome means Chelsea drop out of the automatic qualification places—the spots that progress automatically for the next round—to eleventh with two league phase matches left to play.

Atalanta, in contrast, climb up to third, three points clear of the Blues.

Chelsea Analysis - Concerning Form Continues

This was a extremely disappointing result for Chelsea as even a point was leaving them in a strong position to achieve the top-eight position they need to avoid the uncertainty of the play-offs.

But they lost focus in their defensive duties with seven minutes left on the clock and Atalanta capitalised completely.

The Italian side are in good form at the moment so this was always going to be a difficult test for the Blues, but they will be annoyed to be departing with no points after securing the lead.

But the wider issue is that this perpetuates Chelsea's concerning run of results in all tournaments.

Since defeating Barcelona 3-0 at the close of November they are now winless in their last four games.

Too Many Rotations Turning Out to Be Costly?

Manager Enzo Enzo Maresca made five rotations for this game as he persisted with his policy of moving players in and out of the starting 11.

The rotations here came after he implemented the identical amount for the loss to Leeds United and six for the draw with Bournemouth prior to the trip to Atalanta.

Maresca will see squad rotation as essential as he tries to manage players' workloads and compete both at domestically and in Europe, but he stated the central contingent of players remains the same for crucial games.

"I believe in this match [in] the starting lineup we had eight or nine players who played against Tottenham Hotspur, Barcelona, and Arsenal," he commented.

"If you see the five changes that we did relative to the previous game it may be different but it is the eight or nine players playing Barcelona.

"The players who took to the field tonight are the individuals who feature in almost all the games."

Up Next for These Sides?

The Blues' next Champions League fixture sees them host Pafos on the coming Wednesday (20:00 GMT).

The Italian team, meanwhile, host Athletic Bilbao at the identical kick-off time.