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Match Summary

• The Chelsea forward hands Chelsea the advantage in the first half.
• Atalanta the stronger side after the break and draw level through Gianluca Scamacca.
• Charles de Ketelaere grabs a late decisive goal for the home side.
• Loss means Chelsea slide to 11th in the league phase of the Champions League.
• The top eight progress automatically for the knockout phase.

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

Each club entered this game with identical points tallies in the league phase of this season's tournament, having won, tied one, and suffered one defeat to be on ten points.

For large parts there was little to separate them in this encounter too, although Chelsea took the lead in the first half when the Brazilian finished the captain's cross.

But Atalanta consistently appeared a threat going forward, with former Premier League attacker causing issues for the backline.

Reece James fired wide in the second half but the home team raised the intensity and deservedly drew level when ex-West Ham striker headed in a centering pass.

The winger hammered a powerful shot straight at the goalkeeper but Atalanta scored the winning goal late on when the Chelsea defence backed off Charles de Ketelaere, who made no mistake with a driven shot.

The visitors attempted to rescue a point in stoppage time but a brilliant save by the Atalanta goalkeeper denied Joao Pedro.

The outcome means Chelsea drop out of the top eight—the positions that progress automatically for the next round—to eleventh with two group stage matches remaining.

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

Chelsea Analysis - Worrying Form Persists

This was a hugely disappointing outcome for Chelsea as even a draw was leaving them well placed to achieve the top eight finish they require to bypass the uncertainty of the play-offs.

But they let their concentration slip in defence with seven minutes remaining and Atalanta seized the moment.

The Italians are in good form at the moment so this was always going to be a challenging test for the visitors, but they will be frustrated to be leaving with nothing after taking the lead.

But the bigger picture is that this continues Chelsea's troubling run of form in all competitions.

Since beating the Spanish giants 3-0 at the close of November they are now without a win in their last four games.

Excessive Changes Proving Expensive?

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

The rotations here followed after he made the same number for the defeat to Leeds United and six for the tie with Bournemouth prior to the trip to Bergamo.

Maresca will see rotation as vital as he attempts to manage players' fitness and compete both at home and in Europe, but he maintained the core group of players stays the same for key games.

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

"If you look at the five alterations that we did compared to Bournemouth it is different but it involves the same eight or nine players who played Barcelona.

"The ones who played this evening are the individuals playing almost all the games."

Up Next for These Clubs?

Chelsea's next Champions League fixture sees them welcome the Cypriot side on Wednesday, 21 January (8pm GMT).

The Italian team, meanwhile, host Athletic Club at the same time.