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At a Glance

• Joao Pedro hands Chelsea the lead in the first half.
• The Italian outfit the stronger side after the interval and equalise through Gianluca Scamacca.
• Charles de Ketelaere scores 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 top eight qualify automatically for the last 16.

Chelsea's chances of securing a place automatically for the European Cup knockouts were hit hard as their Italian opponents overturned a deficit to triumph in Bergamo.

Both sides went into this match with matching points tallies in the initial stage of this year's tournament, having won, drawn, and suffered one defeat to sit on ten points.

For much of the game there was not much to separate them in this encounter too, although Chelsea went ahead in the first half when Joao Pedro finished Reece James' cross.

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

Reece James shot wide in the after the break but Atalanta upped the intensity and deservedly levelled when former West Ham United striker headed in a centering pass.

Alejandro Garnacho hammered a strong effort straight at the goalkeeper but Atalanta secured the winning goal late on when the Blues defenders backed off the midfielder, who took full advantage with a powerful strike.

The visitors tried to rescue a point late on but a superb stop by Marco Carnesecchi denied Pedro.

The outcome means Chelsea fall out of the automatic qualification places—the positions that progress automatically for the next round—to eleventh with two group stage fixtures left to play.

Atalanta, in contrast, leap up to third place, three points ahead of the Londoners.

Blues Breakdown - Worrying Sequence Continues

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

But they lost focus in their defensive duties with seven minutes remaining and Atalanta seized the moment.

The Italians are in rich vein of form at the moment so this was always going to be a tough examination for the Blues, but they will be frustrated to be departing with nothing after securing the lead.

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

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

Excessive Changes Turning Out to Be Expensive?

Manager Enzo Maresca enacted five rotations for this match as he persisted with his policy of rotating players in and out of the first team.

The changes here came after he implemented the same number for the defeat to Leeds United and six for the tie with Bournemouth prior to the journey to Bergamo.

The coach will see squad rotation as necessary as he tries to handle players' workloads and challenge both at domestically and in Europe, but he stated the core group of players remains the same for crucial 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 look at the five alterations that we did relative to Bournemouth it is a change but it involves the same eight or nine players playing Barcelona.

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

Up Next for These Sides?

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

Atalanta, meanwhile, host Athletic Bilbao at the identical kick-off time.