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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 Gianluca Scamacca.
• Charles de Ketelaere nets a late winner for the home side.
• The defeat means Chelsea slide to eleventh place in the group stage of the Champions League.
• The leading eight teams qualify automatically for the last 16.

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

Both sides went into this game with the same records in the initial stage of this season's competition, having secured three victories, tied one, and suffered one defeat to sit on ten points.

For large parts there was little to choose between them in this encounter too, even though Chelsea went ahead in the opening 45 minutes when Joao Pedro finished the captain's delivery.

But Atalanta remained a danger going on the attack, with ex- Premier League attacker causing problems for the defence.

Reece James shot wide in the second half but the home team raised the pressure and justly equalised when ex-West Ham striker nodded home a cross.

The winger hammered a strong effort straight at the goalkeeper but Atalanta scored the decisive strike late on when the Chelsea defence backed off the midfielder, who made no mistake with a powerful shot.

Chelsea tried to rescue a draw in stoppage time but a excellent stop by Marco Carnesecchi kept out Pedro.

The outcome means Chelsea drop out of the automatic qualification places—the positions that qualify automatically for the next round—to eleventh with two group stage games remaining.

Atalanta, meanwhile, climb up to third place, three points ahead of the Londoners.

Chelsea Analysis - Worrying Form Continues

This was a extremely disappointing result for Chelsea as even a draw was keeping them in a strong position to achieve the top eight finish they need to avoid the lottery of the qualifying play-off round.

But they lost focus in defence with seven minutes left on the clock 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 Blues, but they will be frustrated to be departing with no points after securing the early advantage.

But the broader context is that this perpetuates Chelsea's troubling run of form in all competitions.

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

Too Many Rotations Turning Out to Be Costly?

Manager Enzo Enzo Maresca made five rotations for this game as he continued his policy of rotating players in and out of the starting 11.

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

Maresca will view squad rotation as necessary as he tries to handle players' workloads and challenge both at domestically and in Europe, but he insisted the core group of players remains the same for key games.

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

"If you look at the five changes that we made compared to the previous game it may be different but it involves the eight or nine players who played in that match.

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

What's Next for These Sides?

Chelsea's next European fixture sees them host Pafos on Wednesday, 21 January (8pm GMT).

The Italian team, on the other hand, host Athletic Bilbao at the identical kick-off time.