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Match Summary

• The Chelsea forward gives Chelsea the advantage in the first half.
• Atalanta the better side after the break and draw level through the striker.
• Charles de Ketelaere scores a late winner for the home side.
• The defeat means Chelsea drop to 11th in the league phase of the Champions League.
• The leading eight teams progress automatically for the knockout phase.

Chelsea's hopes of qualifying automatically for the Champions League knockouts were suffered a setback as their Italian opponents fought back to win in their home stadium.

Both sides entered this fixture with the same records in the league phase of this season's competition, having won, tied one, and suffered one defeat to sit on ten points.

For extended periods there was not much to choose between them in this contest too, even though Chelsea went ahead in the first half when Joao Pedro finished Reece James' cross.

But Atalanta always looked a danger going forward, with former Premier League attacker causing issues for the backline.

James fired wide in the after the break but Atalanta increased the intensity and deservedly drew level when ex-West Ham striker Gianluca Scamacca a cross.

Alejandro Garnacho drove a powerful shot straight at the keeper but Atalanta secured the winner in the closing stages when the Blues defenders backed off Charles de Ketelaere, who made no mistake with a powerful strike.

Chelsea tried to rescue a draw in stoppage time but a superb stop by the Atalanta goalkeeper denied Pedro.

The outcome means Chelsea fall out of the top eight—the spots that qualify automatically for the next round—to eleventh with two league phase matches left to play.

Atalanta, in contrast, climb up to third, three points clear of the Londoners.

Blues Breakdown - Worrying Sequence Continues

This was a extremely disappointing result for Chelsea as even a point was keeping them in a strong position to achieve the top eight finish they need to bypass the uncertainty of the play-offs.

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

The Italians are in fine fettle at the moment so this was always going to be a challenging test for the Blues, but they will be annoyed to be departing with no points after taking the lead.

But the broader context is that this extends Chelsea's concerning sequence of results in all tournaments.

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

Excessive Rotations Proving Costly?

Manager Enzo Maresca enacted five rotations for this game as he continued his policy of rotating players in and out of the first team.

The rotations here came after he made the same number for the loss to Leeds and six for the draw with AFC Bournemouth prior to the trip to Atalanta.

Maresca will see rotation as necessary as he attempts to handle players' fitness and challenge both at domestically and in Europe, but he maintained the central contingent of players stays the unchanged for key games.

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

"If you look at the five alterations that we made compared to Bournemouth it may be a change but it is the eight or nine players who played in that match.

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

Up Next for These Teams?

Chelsea's next Champions League fixture sees them host Pafos on the coming Wednesday (20:00 GMT).

The Italian team, meanwhile, host Athletic Club at the identical kick-off time.