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Key Moments

• Joao Pedro hands Chelsea the advantage in the first half.
• Atalanta the better side after the interval and draw level through the striker.
• Charles de Ketelaere grabs a last-gasp decisive goal for the hosts.
• The defeat means Chelsea fall to eleventh place in the league phase of the tournament.
• The leading eight teams progress automatically for the knockout phase.

The London club's chances of securing a place automatically for the European Cup knockouts were suffered a setback as their Italian opponents overturned a deficit to triumph in Bergamo.

Both sides entered this game with matching records in the league phase of this season's tournament, having won, drawn, and lost to sit on ten points.

For large parts there was not much to distinguish them in this encounter too, even though Chelsea took the lead in the first half when Joao Pedro converted Reece James' delivery.

But Atalanta always looked a threat going forward, with ex- Charlton and Everton attacker Ademola Lookman issues for the defence.

James shot wide in the second half but Atalanta upped the pressure and deservedly levelled when former West Ham United striker Gianluca Scamacca a cross.

Alejandro Garnacho hammered a powerful shot straight at the goalkeeper but Atalanta scored the winning goal late on when the Blues defenders retreated from Charles de Ketelaere, who made no mistake with a driven finish.

Chelsea attempted to rescue a point late on but a superb save by the Atalanta goalkeeper kept out Pedro.

The final score means Chelsea drop out of the top eight—the spots that progress automatically for the knockouts—to 11th with two league phase games remaining.

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

Chelsea Analysis - Concerning Sequence Continues

This was a hugely disappointing outcome for Chelsea as even a draw was keeping them in a strong position to secure the top-eight finish they require to avoid the lottery of the play-offs.

But they lacked concentration in defence with seven minutes remaining and Atalanta capitalised completely.

The Italian side are in good form at the moment so this was always going to be a challenging test for the Blues, but they will be annoyed to be departing with nothing after securing the early advantage.

But the broader context is that this perpetuates Chelsea's concerning run of results in all competitions.

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

Excessive Changes Proving Costly?

Chelsea boss Maresca made five rotations for this match as he continued his strategy of rotating players in and out of the starting 11.

The changes here came after he made the identical amount for the loss to Leeds and six for the tie with Bournemouth prior to the journey to Atalanta.

The coach will see squad rotation as essential as he attempts to handle players' workloads and compete both at home and abroad, but he maintained the key nucleus of players stays the unchanged for key fixtures.

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

"If you see the five changes that we did compared to the previous game it may be different but it involves the eight or nine players playing in that match.

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

What's Next for These Sides?

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

The Italian team, meanwhile, host Athletic Club at the same time.