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Match Summary

• Joao Pedro gives Chelsea the advantage in the first half.
• The Italian outfit the stronger side after the break and draw level through Gianluca Scamacca.
• The Belgian attacker nets a last-gasp decisive goal for the hosts.
• Loss means Chelsea slide to eleventh place in the group stage of the tournament.
• The top eight progress automatically for the last 16.

Chelsea's hopes of securing a place automatically for the Champions League knockouts were hit hard as their Italian opponents came from behind to triumph in their home stadium.

The two teams went into this game with matching records in the initial stage of this year's competition, having won, drawn, and suffered one defeat to sit on 10 points.

For much of the game there was very little to distinguish them in this encounter too, although Chelsea took the lead in the first half when the Brazilian turned in the captain's cross.

But The Serie A side remained a threat going forward, with ex- Charlton and Everton attacker Ademola Lookman problems for the defence.

James shot wide in the after the break but the home team increased the intensity and justly drew level when ex-West Ham striker nodded home a cross.

The winger drove a powerful shot straight at the goalkeeper but Atalanta scored the winning goal late on when the Chelsea defence backed off the midfielder, who made no mistake with a low strike.

Chelsea attempted to salvage a point late on but a superb stop by Marco Carnesecchi denied Joao Pedro.

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

The Bergamo club, in contrast, jump up to third, three points clear of the Londoners.

Blues Breakdown - Worrying Sequence Persists

This was a hugely frustrating result for Chelsea as even a point was leaving them well placed to achieve the top eight finish they require to bypass the lottery of the qualifying play-off round.

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

The Italian side are in fine fettle at the moment so this was always going to be a tough examination for the visitors, but they will be annoyed to be departing with no points after taking 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 winless in their last four matches.

Excessive Rotations Proving Expensive?

Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca enacted five alterations for this match as he persisted with his policy of moving players in and out of the first team.

The rotations here followed after he implemented the same number for the defeat to Leeds United and six for the draw with AFC Bournemouth prior to the journey to Bergamo.

Maresca will view squad rotation as essential as he tries to manage players' workloads and challenge both at home and in Europe, but he maintained the core group of players remains the same for key games.

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

"If you see the five changes that we did relative to the previous game it may be different but it involves the eight or nine players playing Barcelona.

"The ones who took to the field this evening are the ones playing almost all the games."

What's Next for These Sides?

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

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