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Key Moments

• Joao Pedro hands Chelsea the advantage in the opening period.
• The Italian outfit the better side after the break and equalise through the striker.
• Charles de Ketelaere grabs a late winner for the hosts.
• Loss means Chelsea fall to eleventh place in the league phase of the Champions League.
• The leading eight teams progress automatically for the knockout phase.

The London club's ambitions of securing a place automatically for the Champions League knockouts were suffered a setback as Atalanta fought back to claim victory in their home stadium.

Each club went into this fixture with identical points tallies in the league phase of this year's tournament, having secured three victories, tied one, and suffered one defeat to be on ten points.

For much of the game there was little to distinguish them in this encounter too, although Chelsea took the lead in the first half when the Brazilian finished Reece James' cross.

But Atalanta consistently appeared a danger going on the attack, with ex- Premier League attacker Ademola Lookman issues for the backline.

James fired wide in the second half but Atalanta raised the pressure and deservedly equalised when ex-West Ham striker Gianluca Scamacca a cross.

The winger hammered a powerful shot straight at the goalkeeper but Atalanta secured the winner late on when the Blues defence retreated from the midfielder, who took full advantage with a powerful shot.

The visitors tried to rescue a draw in stoppage time but a excellent save by Marco Carnesecchi kept out Pedro.

The final score means Chelsea drop out of the top eight—the spots that qualify automatically for the next round—to eleventh with two league phase games left to play.

Atalanta, in contrast, jump up to third place, three points clear of the Londoners.

Chelsea Analysis - Worrying Form Continues

This was a extremely disappointing result for Chelsea as even a point was leaving them well placed to achieve the top eight position they need to avoid the lottery of the qualifying play-off round.

But they lost focus in defence with seven minutes left on the clock and Atalanta seized the moment.

The Italians are in rich vein of form at the moment so this was always going to be a challenging examination for the visitors, but they will be frustrated to be departing with no points after taking the early advantage.

But the bigger picture is that this continues Chelsea's troubling sequence of results in all tournaments.

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

Too Many Rotations Turning Out to Be Expensive?

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

The rotations here came after he implemented the identical amount for the defeat to Leeds and six for the tie with Bournemouth prior to the journey to Bergamo.

Maresca will view squad rotation as essential as he tries to handle players' fitness and compete both at home and in Europe, but he stated the central contingent of players stays the unchanged for crucial games.

"I think tonight [in] the starting lineup we had eight or nine players who played against Tottenham, FC Barcelona, and Arsenal," he said.

"If you look at the five alterations that we made compared to the previous game it is different but it is the eight or nine players playing in that match.

"The players who played this evening are the individuals who feature in almost all the matches."

What Next for These Teams?

Chelsea's next Champions League game sees them welcome Pafos on Wednesday, 21 January (8pm GMT).

Atalanta, on the other hand, are at home to Athletic Bilbao at the identical kick-off time.