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Match Summary

• Joao Pedro gives Chelsea the lead in the opening period.
• The Italian outfit the stronger side after the break and equalise through the striker.
• Charles de Ketelaere scores a last-gasp decisive goal for the hosts.
• Loss means Chelsea drop to 11th in the league phase of the tournament.
• The leading eight teams qualify automatically for the knockouts.

Chelsea's hopes of qualifying automatically for the European Cup knockout stages were suffered a setback as their Italian opponents overturned a deficit to claim victory in Bergamo.

The two teams entered this game with the same points tallies in the league phase of this season's tournament, having won, tied one, and suffered one defeat to be on 10 points.

For large parts there was little to distinguish them in this contest too, even though Chelsea got their noses in front in the first half when the Brazilian finished Reece James' delivery.

But Atalanta remained a danger going forwards, with former Charlton and Everton attacker causing problems for the defence.

Reece James fired wide in the after the break but the home team raised the pressure and justly levelled when former West Ham United striker nodded home a centering pass.

Alejandro Garnacho hammered a powerful shot straight at the keeper but they got the winning goal in the closing stages when the Chelsea defence retreated from Charles de Ketelaere, who took full advantage with a driven strike.

The visitors attempted to salvage a point late on but a superb save by the Atalanta goalkeeper denied Joao Pedro.

The result means Chelsea slip out of the top eight—the positions that progress automatically for the next round—to eleventh with two league phase fixtures remaining.

The Bergamo club, in contrast, leap up to third, three points clear of the Blues.

Blues Breakdown - Worrying Sequence Persists

This was a extremely frustrating outcome for Chelsea as even a draw was leaving them in a strong position to achieve the top-eight position they require to avoid the lottery of the play-offs.

But they lost focus in their defensive duties with seven minutes remaining and their opponents seized the moment.

The Italians are in good form at the moment so this was always going to be a tough examination for the visitors, but they will be annoyed to be departing with nothing after taking the lead.

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

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

Excessive Changes Turning Out to Be Expensive?

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

The changes here followed after he implemented the same number for the defeat to Leeds United and six for the tie with Bournemouth prior to the trip to Atalanta.

The coach will see squad rotation as essential as he tries to manage players' fitness and compete both at domestically and abroad, but he insisted the key nucleus of players remains the unchanged for key fixtures.

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

"If you look at the five alterations that we made relative to Bournemouth it is different but it involves the same eight or nine players who played in that match.

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

What Next for These Sides?

The Blues' next Champions League game sees them host Pafos on Wednesday, 21 January (20:00 GMT).

The Italian team, meanwhile, are at home to Athletic Club at the identical kick-off time.