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Key Moments

• The Chelsea forward gives Chelsea the lead in the opening period.
• The Italian outfit the stronger side after the break and draw level through Gianluca Scamacca.
• Charles de Ketelaere grabs a late winner for the hosts.
• The defeat means Chelsea slide to eleventh place in the league phase of the tournament.
• The leading eight teams qualify automatically for the knockout phase.

The London club's ambitions of qualifying automatically for the Champions League knockout stages were suffered a setback as their Italian opponents came from behind to claim victory in Bergamo.

The two teams went into this fixture with matching points tallies in the initial stage of this year's tournament, having won, drawn, and suffered one defeat to be on 10 points.

For much of the game there was very little to distinguish them in this encounter too, although Chelsea went ahead in the first half when Joao Pedro converted the captain's delivery.

But The Serie A side remained a danger going forwards, with former Charlton and Everton attacker Ademola Lookman issues for the defence.

Reece James fired wide in the second half but the home team upped the intensity and justly equalised when former West Ham United striker headed in a cross.

Alejandro Garnacho drove a powerful shot straight at the keeper but Atalanta secured the winning goal in the closing stages when the Chelsea defence backed off Charles de Ketelaere, who made no mistake with a low strike.

Chelsea attempted to rescue a draw late on but a superb stop by the Atalanta goalkeeper denied Pedro.

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

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

Blues Breakdown - Worrying Sequence Continues

This was a extremely disappointing result for Chelsea as even a draw was keeping them well placed to secure the top eight finish they require to bypass the lottery of the play-offs.

But they lost focus in their defensive duties with seven minutes remaining and Atalanta 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 annoyed to be leaving with no points after securing the early advantage.

But the broader context is that this continues Chelsea's concerning run of form in all tournaments.

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

Excessive Changes Proving Expensive?

Chelsea boss Maresca enacted five alterations for this game as he continued his strategy of moving players in and out of the first team.

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

Maresca will view rotation as necessary as he tries to manage players' minutes and challenge both at domestically and abroad, but he stated the central contingent of players remains the same for crucial games.

"I believe in this match [in] the first XI we had eight or nine players who featured against Tottenham, FC Barcelona, and Arsenal," he stated.

"If you look at the five changes that we made relative to the previous game it may be a change but it is the eight or nine players who played in that match.

"The players who took to the field tonight are the ones playing almost all the games."

What's Next for These Clubs?

The Blues' next European fixture sees them host the Cypriot side on the coming Wednesday (8pm GMT).

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