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Match Summary

• The Chelsea forward gives Chelsea the lead in the opening period.
• The Italian outfit the better side after the break and draw level through the striker.
• Charles de Ketelaere nets a last-gasp decisive goal for the home side.
• Loss means Chelsea drop to eleventh place in the group stage of the tournament.
• The leading eight teams qualify automatically for the last 16.

Chelsea's hopes of securing a place automatically for the European Cup knockouts were hit hard as Atalanta came from behind to triumph in Bergamo.

The two teams entered this fixture with the same points tallies in the initial stage of this season's competition, having secured three victories, tied one, and lost to sit on 10 points.

For large parts there was little to separate them in this encounter too, even though Chelsea got their noses in front in the first half when Joao Pedro turned in Reece James' delivery.

But The Serie A side always looked a danger going forward, with former Premier League attacker Ademola Lookman issues for the backline.

James shot wide in the after the break but the home team upped the intensity and deservedly levelled when former West Ham United striker nodded home a cross.

Alejandro Garnacho hammered a powerful shot straight at the keeper but Atalanta got the winner in the closing stages when the Chelsea defenders backed off the midfielder, who made no mistake with a powerful finish.

Chelsea tried to salvage a point in stoppage time but a superb stop by Marco Carnesecchi denied Joao Pedro.

The outcome means Chelsea slip out of the automatic qualification places—the positions that qualify automatically for the knockouts—to 11th with two league phase matches left to play.

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

Blues Breakdown - Concerning Run Persists

This was a hugely disappointing result for Chelsea as even a point was keeping them well placed to secure the top-eight finish they require to bypass the lottery of the qualifying play-off round.

But they lacked concentration in defence with seven minutes left on the clock and Atalanta capitalised completely.

The Italians are in rich vein of 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 no points after securing the lead.

But the wider issue is that this perpetuates Chelsea's worrying streak of form in all tournaments.

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

Too Many Changes Turning Out to Be Expensive?

Chelsea boss Maresca enacted five changes for this game as he persisted with his run of rotating players in and out of the starting 11.

The changes here came after he made the same number for the loss to Leeds and six for the tie with AFC Bournemouth prior to the journey to Bergamo.

The coach will see rotation as vital as he tries to manage players' fitness and challenge both at domestically and abroad, but he stated the central contingent of players remains the unchanged for important fixtures.

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

"If you look at the five changes that we did relative to Bournemouth it is a change but it involves the eight or nine players playing Barcelona.

"The ones who played tonight are the ones playing almost all the games."

What's Next for These Clubs?

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

The Italian team, on the other hand, are at home to Athletic Club at the same time.