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Match Summary

• Joao Pedro gives Chelsea the lead in the first half.
• Atalanta the better side after the interval and equalise through the striker.
• Charles de Ketelaere scores a last-gasp decisive goal for the home side.
• Loss means Chelsea fall to 11th in the league phase of the Champions League.
• The top eight progress automatically for the knockout phase.

The London club's hopes of securing a place automatically for the European Cup knockout stages were suffered a setback as their Italian opponents fought back to claim victory in Bergamo.

The two teams went into this fixture with matching records in the league phase of this year's competition, having secured three victories, drawn, and suffered one defeat to be on 10 points.

For much of the game there was very little to choose between them in this contest too, although Chelsea got their noses in front in the opening 45 minutes when Joao Pedro converted the captain's delivery.

But The Serie A side remained a threat going forwards, with former Premier League attacker creating problems for the defence.

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

The winger drove a strong effort straight at the goalkeeper but Atalanta secured the winner late on when the Blues defenders backed off Charles de Ketelaere, who took full advantage with a powerful finish.

The visitors tried to salvage a point late on but a excellent save by Marco Carnesecchi kept out Pedro.

The final score means Chelsea slip out of the top eight—the positions that progress automatically for the next round—to eleventh with two group stage fixtures remaining.

The Bergamo club, in contrast, jump up to third, three points ahead of the Blues.

Chelsea Analysis - Worrying Run Continues

This was a extremely frustrating result for Chelsea as even a draw was leaving them well placed to achieve the top-eight position they require to bypass the uncertainty of the play-offs.

But they let their concentration slip in their defensive duties with seven minutes remaining and their opponents capitalised completely.

The Italian side are in rich vein of form at the moment so this was always going to be a tough test for the visitors, but they will be annoyed to be departing with nothing after taking the early advantage.

But the bigger picture is that this perpetuates Chelsea's worrying run of form in all tournaments.

Since defeating the Spanish giants 3-0 at the close of November they are now winless in their last four outings.

Too Many Rotations Proving Expensive?

Chelsea boss Maresca enacted five rotations for this game as he continued his strategy of moving players in and out of the starting 11.

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

The coach will see rotation as essential as he tries to handle players' minutes and compete both at home and abroad, but he maintained the core group of players stays the same for crucial fixtures.

"I think in this match [in] the first XI we had eight or nine players who featured against Tottenham, FC Barcelona, and the Gunners," he commented.

"If you see the five alterations 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 individuals playing almost all the games."

What's Next for These Clubs?

The Blues' next Champions League game sees them welcome the Cypriot side on Wednesday, 21 January (8pm GMT).

Atalanta, meanwhile, are at home to Athletic Bilbao at the same time.