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Key Moments

• Joao Pedro gives Chelsea the advantage in the opening period.
• Atalanta the stronger side after the break and draw level 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 tournament.
• The top eight qualify automatically for the knockouts.

Chelsea's ambitions of qualifying automatically for the European Cup knockout stages were suffered a setback as Atalanta came from behind to claim victory in their home stadium.

The two teams entered this match with matching points tallies in the initial stage of this year's competition, having secured three victories, drawn, and lost to sit on ten points.

For much of the game there was very little to separate them in this encounter too, even though Chelsea got their noses in front in the first half when Joao Pedro finished the captain's delivery.

But Atalanta remained a threat going on the attack, with former Charlton and Everton attacker causing problems for the backline.

James shot wide in the second half but the home team increased the intensity and justly equalised when former West Ham United striker Gianluca Scamacca a cross.

Alejandro Garnacho drove a powerful shot straight at the keeper but they scored the winner late on when the Chelsea defence retreated from the midfielder, who made no mistake with a driven shot.

The visitors tried to rescue a draw late on but a brilliant save by the Atalanta goalkeeper denied Pedro.

The final score means Chelsea slip out of the automatic qualification places—the spots that progress automatically for the next round—to eleventh with two league phase games remaining.

Atalanta, meanwhile, leap up to third place, three points clear of the Londoners.

Blues Breakdown - Worrying Sequence Continues

This was a hugely frustrating result for Chelsea as even a point was leaving them in a strong position to achieve the top-eight position they require to avoid the lottery of the qualifying play-off round.

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

The Italians 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 no points after securing the early advantage.

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

Since beating the Spanish giants 3-0 at the end of November they are now winless in their last four matches.

Too Many Rotations Proving Costly?

Chelsea boss Maresca enacted five alterations for this game as he persisted with his policy of moving players in and out of the starting lineup.

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

Maresca will see rotation as vital as he tries to handle players' fitness and compete both at domestically and abroad, but he stated the key nucleus of players stays the same for important games.

"I believe tonight [in] the first XI we had eight or nine players who featured against Tottenham Hotspur, FC Barcelona, and Arsenal," he stated.

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

"The ones who played tonight are the individuals who feature in almost all the games."

Up Next for These Clubs?

Chelsea's next Champions League game sees them welcome Pafos on the coming Wednesday (8pm GMT).

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