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Key Moments

• Joao Pedro hands Chelsea the lead in the opening period.
• Atalanta the better side after the break and draw level through the striker.
• Charles de Ketelaere grabs a late decisive goal for the hosts.
• The defeat means Chelsea drop to eleventh place in the group stage of the Champions League.
• The top eight progress automatically for the knockout phase.

The London club's ambitions of qualifying automatically for the European Cup knockouts were suffered a setback as Atalanta came from behind to triumph in their home stadium.

Both sides entered this game with matching points tallies in the league phase of this year's competition, having won, tied one, and suffered one defeat to be on 10 points.

For large parts there was not much to separate them in this encounter too, although Chelsea got their noses in front in the first half when the Brazilian converted the captain's cross.

But The Serie A side remained a threat going forward, with former Premier League attacker creating issues for the defence.

James fired wide in the after the break but Atalanta upped the pressure and deservedly levelled when ex-West Ham striker Gianluca Scamacca a centering pass.

Alejandro Garnacho hammered 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 took full advantage with a driven shot.

Chelsea attempted to salvage a point in stoppage time but a superb stop by the Atalanta goalkeeper kept out Pedro.

The final score means Chelsea slip out of the top eight—the spots that progress automatically for the knockouts—to 11th with two group stage matches left to play.

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

Blues Breakdown - Worrying Form Continues

This was a extremely frustrating result for Chelsea as even a draw was leaving them well placed to secure the top-eight position they require to avoid the lottery of the play-offs.

But they let their concentration slip in defence with seven minutes left on the clock and Atalanta seized the moment.

The Italians are in fine fettle 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 taking the early advantage.

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

Since defeating Barcelona 3-0 at the close of November they are now winless in their last four games.

Too Many Rotations Proving Costly?

Manager Enzo Enzo Maresca made five alterations for this match as he persisted with his policy of rotating players in and out of the starting lineup.

The rotations here came after he implemented the identical amount for the defeat to Leeds and six for the tie with Bournemouth prior to the trip to Bergamo.

The coach will view rotation as necessary as he attempts to handle players' workloads and challenge both at domestically and in Europe, but he stated the core group of players remains the unchanged for crucial fixtures.

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

"If you see the five changes that we did compared to Bournemouth it is different but it involves the eight or nine players playing in that match.

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

Up Next for These Sides?

The Blues' next Champions League game sees them host Pafos on the coming Wednesday (20:00 GMT).

Atalanta, on the other hand, host Athletic Club at the identical kick-off time.