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At a Glance

• The Chelsea forward hands Chelsea the advantage in the opening period.
• The Italian outfit the better side after the break and equalise through Gianluca Scamacca.
• The Belgian attacker grabs a late decisive goal for the home side.
• Loss means Chelsea slide to 11th in the group stage of the Champions League.
• The leading eight teams progress automatically for the knockout phase.

Chelsea's chances of qualifying automatically for the Champions League knockout stages were hit hard as their Italian opponents came from behind to claim victory in their home stadium.

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

For large parts there was little to distinguish them in this encounter too, although Chelsea went ahead in the first half when Joao Pedro turned in Reece James' cross.

But Atalanta consistently appeared a threat going forwards, with ex- Premier League attacker causing issues for the defence.

Reece James fired wide in the after the break but Atalanta increased the pressure and justly levelled when ex-West Ham striker headed in a cross.

The winger hammered a strong effort straight at the keeper but Atalanta got the winning goal late on when the Chelsea defenders backed off Charles de Ketelaere, who seized the opportunity with a low strike.

The visitors tried to rescue a draw in stoppage time but a brilliant stop by Marco Carnesecchi denied Pedro.

The outcome means Chelsea drop out of the automatic qualification places—the positions that progress automatically for the knockouts—to 11th with two league phase fixtures remaining.

The Bergamo club, in contrast, climb up to third, three points ahead of the Londoners.

Blues Breakdown - Concerning Run Persists

This was a extremely frustrating result for Chelsea as even a point was keeping them in a strong position to achieve the top-eight position they need to bypass the uncertainty of the play-offs.

But they let their concentration slip in their defensive duties with seven minutes left on the clock and Atalanta capitalised completely.

The Italian side are in fine fettle at the moment so this was always going to be a challenging examination for the visitors, but they will be annoyed to be departing with no points after securing the lead.

But the wider issue is that this perpetuates Chelsea's worrying sequence 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 outings.

Excessive Rotations Proving Expensive?

Manager Enzo Enzo Maresca made five alterations for this match as he persisted with his policy of moving players in and out of the first team.

The changes here came after he made the identical amount for the defeat to Leeds United and six for the draw with AFC Bournemouth prior to the trip to Bergamo.

Maresca will see squad rotation as essential as he attempts to handle players' minutes and challenge both at home and in Europe, but he maintained the core group of players remains the same for important games.

"I think in this match [in] the first XI we had eight or nine players who played against Tottenham, Barcelona, and Arsenal," he said.

"If you look at the five alterations that we made compared to Bournemouth it may be different but it is the eight or nine players playing Barcelona.

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

What Next for These Clubs?

The Blues' next Champions League game sees them welcome the Cypriot side on Wednesday, 21 January (20:00 GMT).

Atalanta, on the other hand, host Athletic Club at the identical kick-off time.