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Match Summary

• The Chelsea forward gives Chelsea the lead in the opening period.
• Atalanta the stronger side after the interval and equalise through the striker.
• The Belgian attacker scores a late winner for the hosts.
• Loss means Chelsea drop to eleventh place in the league phase of the Champions League.
• The leading eight teams qualify automatically for the knockouts.

The London club's ambitions of qualifying automatically for the European Cup knockouts were suffered a setback as their Italian opponents fought back to claim victory in their home stadium.

Both sides went into this fixture with identical points tallies in the initial stage of this year's competition, having won, drawn, and lost to be on 10 points.

For large parts there was little to choose between them in this contest too, although Chelsea got their noses in front in the first half when the Brazilian finished Reece James' cross.

But The Serie A side always looked a danger going forward, with ex- Charlton and Everton attacker causing problems for the backline.

James fired wide in the after the break but Atalanta upped the intensity and rightfully levelled when former West Ham United striker nodded home a cross.

The winger hammered a strong effort straight at the goalkeeper but they secured the winning goal in the closing stages when the Blues defenders backed off the midfielder, who seized the opportunity with a driven strike.

The visitors tried to salvage a point in stoppage time but a superb stop by Marco Carnesecchi denied Pedro.

The result means Chelsea slip out of the automatic qualification places—the spots that qualify automatically for the knockouts—to eleventh with two group stage games left to play.

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

Blues Breakdown - Concerning Run Persists

This was a hugely frustrating result for Chelsea as even a point was leaving them in a strong position to secure the top eight finish they need to bypass the lottery of the qualifying play-off round.

But they lacked concentration in their defensive duties with seven minutes remaining and their opponents took full advantage.

The Italians are in rich vein of form at the moment so this was always going to be a difficult examination for the Blues, but they will be frustrated to be departing with no points after securing the early advantage.

But the broader context is that this extends Chelsea's troubling run of form 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 matches.

Excessive Rotations Turning Out to Be Expensive?

Manager Enzo Maresca enacted five changes for this game as he persisted with his run 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 United and six for the draw with Bournemouth prior to the trip to Bergamo.

The coach will view squad rotation as vital as he attempts to manage players' workloads and challenge both at domestically and abroad, but he maintained the central contingent of players stays the unchanged for important games.

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

"If you look at the five changes that we made relative to Bournemouth it may be a change but it involves the same eight or nine players playing in that match.

"The ones who played tonight are the individuals playing almost all the games."

Up Next for These Clubs?

Chelsea's next European game sees them welcome Pafos on the coming Wednesday (8pm GMT).

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