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Key Moments

• Joao Pedro gives Chelsea the advantage in the first half.
• The Italian outfit the better side after the interval and equalise through Gianluca Scamacca.
• Charles de Ketelaere scores a late decisive goal for the home side.
• Loss means Chelsea fall to 11th in the league phase of the Champions League.
• The top eight progress automatically for the last 16.

Chelsea's hopes of securing a place automatically for the European Cup knockout stages were hit hard as their Italian opponents overturned a deficit to triumph in Bergamo.

Each club went into this fixture with identical points tallies in the initial stage of this year's competition, having won, tied one, and lost to be on 10 points.

For much of the game there was very little to choose between them in this contest too, although Chelsea went ahead in the opening 45 minutes when Joao Pedro turned in the captain's cross.

But Atalanta always looked a danger going forward, with former Premier League attacker Ademola Lookman problems for the defence.

Reece James fired wide in the after the break but Atalanta increased the pressure and rightfully equalised when former West Ham United striker Gianluca Scamacca a centering pass.

The winger drove a powerful shot straight at the keeper but Atalanta scored the winning goal late on when the Blues defence retreated from the midfielder, who seized the opportunity with a powerful shot.

Chelsea attempted to rescue a point in stoppage time but a excellent stop by Marco Carnesecchi kept out Pedro.

The final score means Chelsea fall out of the automatic qualification places—the positions that progress automatically for the knockouts—to 11th with two group stage matches remaining.

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

Chelsea Analysis - Worrying Run Continues

This was a extremely disappointing outcome for Chelsea as even a point was leaving them in a strong position to secure the top eight finish they require to bypass the uncertainty of the qualifying play-off round.

But they lacked concentration in defence with seven minutes left on the clock and their opponents capitalised completely.

The Italian side are in good form 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 nothing after securing the early advantage.

But the wider issue is that this perpetuates Chelsea's worrying run of form in all tournaments.

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

Too Many Rotations Proving Expensive?

Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca made five rotations for this game as he continued his strategy of moving players in and out of the starting lineup.

The changes here came after he made the same number for the loss to Leeds and six for the tie with Bournemouth prior to the journey to Atalanta.

Maresca will see rotation as necessary as he tries to manage players' minutes and challenge both at domestically and in Europe, but he maintained the key nucleus of players remains the unchanged for important fixtures.

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

"If you look at the five alterations that we made relative to Bournemouth it is different but it involves the same eight or nine players playing Barcelona.

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

What Next for These Teams?

Chelsea's next Champions League fixture sees them welcome the Cypriot side on the coming Wednesday (8pm GMT).

The Italian team, on the other hand, host Athletic Club at the same time.