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Match Summary

• Joao Pedro hands Chelsea the lead in the first half.
• Atalanta the better side after the interval and draw level through Gianluca Scamacca.
• The Belgian attacker scores a late decisive goal for the home side.
• The defeat means Chelsea fall to eleventh place in the league phase of the Champions League.
• The leading eight teams qualify automatically for the knockouts.

The London club's chances of qualifying automatically for the European Cup knockout stages were suffered a setback as their Italian opponents fought back to win in Bergamo.

Both sides entered this match with matching records in the league phase of this year's tournament, having secured three victories, tied one, and suffered one defeat to have accrued ten points.

For large parts there was not much to separate them in this encounter too, even though Chelsea took the lead in the first half when the Brazilian finished the captain's cross.

But Atalanta remained a threat going on the attack, with former Charlton and Everton attacker Ademola Lookman issues for the defence.

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

The winger drove a strong effort straight at the goalkeeper but Atalanta scored the winner in the closing stages when the Chelsea defenders backed off Charles de Ketelaere, who made no mistake with a driven finish.

Chelsea tried to rescue a draw late on but a brilliant save by Marco Carnesecchi denied Joao Pedro.

The outcome means Chelsea drop out of the automatic qualification places—the positions that progress automatically for the next round—to 11th with two league phase matches left to play.

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

Blues Breakdown - Concerning Form Continues

This was a extremely frustrating result for Chelsea as even a draw was leaving them in a strong position to achieve the top-eight finish they need to avoid the uncertainty of the play-offs.

But they lost focus in their defensive duties with seven minutes left on the clock and Atalanta seized the moment.

The Italians are in rich vein of form at the moment so this was always going to be a tough test for the visitors, but they will be disappointed to be leaving with nothing after securing the early advantage.

But the bigger picture is that this perpetuates Chelsea's troubling run 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 games.

Excessive Changes Proving Costly?

Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca made five rotations for this match as he continued his run of rotating players in and out of the starting lineup.

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

Maresca will see rotation as necessary as he tries to handle players' fitness and compete both at domestically and in Europe, but he insisted the central contingent of players remains the unchanged for important games.

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

"If you see the five alterations that we did relative to the previous game it is a change but it involves the eight or nine players playing in that match.

"The ones who took to the field tonight are the individuals who feature in almost all the games."

What's Next for These Clubs?

Chelsea's next Champions League fixture sees them welcome the Cypriot side on Wednesday, 21 January (20:00 GMT).

Atalanta, on the other hand, are at home to Athletic Bilbao at the identical kick-off time.