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Match Summary

• Joao Pedro gives Chelsea the advantage in the first half.
• Atalanta the stronger side after the break and equalise through the striker.
• The Belgian attacker grabs a last-gasp decisive goal for the hosts.
• Loss means Chelsea fall to 11th in the group stage of the tournament.
• The top eight qualify automatically for the last 16.

The London club's ambitions of qualifying automatically for the European Cup knockout stages were dealt a blow as their Italian opponents came from behind to win in their home stadium.

Each club went into this game with identical points tallies in the initial stage of this season's tournament, having won, tied one, and lost to sit on 10 points.

For large parts there was little to distinguish them in this contest too, although Chelsea took the lead in the first half when the Brazilian finished Reece James' cross.

But The Serie A side remained a danger going forward, with ex- Premier League attacker creating problems for the backline.

James shot wide in the second half but Atalanta upped the intensity and justly equalised when ex-West Ham striker Gianluca Scamacca a cross.

The winger hammered a strong effort straight at the keeper but they got the winning goal late on when the Blues defenders backed off Charles de Ketelaere, who made no mistake with a driven strike.

The visitors attempted to rescue a draw in stoppage time but a superb save by Marco Carnesecchi kept out Pedro.

The outcome means Chelsea drop out of the top eight—the spots that progress automatically for the next round—to 11th with two league phase games left to play.

Atalanta, in contrast, leap up to third place, three points ahead of the Londoners.

Chelsea Analysis - Concerning Form Persists

This was a deeply frustrating outcome for Chelsea as even a draw was keeping them well placed to achieve the top-eight position they need to bypass the uncertainty of the play-offs.

But they let their concentration slip in defence with seven minutes left on the clock and their opponents took full advantage.

The Italian side are in good form at the moment so this was always going to be a tough test for the Blues, but they will be annoyed to be departing with nothing after securing the early advantage.

But the wider issue is that this perpetuates Chelsea's troubling run of results in all tournaments.

Since defeating Barcelona 3-0 at the end of November they are now without a win in their last four games.

Excessive Changes Turning Out to Be Costly?

Manager Enzo Maresca made five rotations for this game as he persisted with his run of rotating players in and out of the first team.

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

The coach will view squad rotation as necessary as he attempts to manage players' minutes and compete both at domestically and in Europe, but he stated the core group of players remains the unchanged for important fixtures.

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

"If you see the five changes that we did relative to the previous game it is different but it is the same eight or nine players playing Barcelona.

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

Up Next for These Teams?

Chelsea's next Champions League game sees them welcome Pafos on Wednesday, 21 January (20:00 GMT).

Atalanta, on the other hand, are at home to Athletic Bilbao at the same time.