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Key Moments

• The Chelsea forward hands Chelsea the advantage in the first half.
• Atalanta the better side after the interval and draw level through Gianluca Scamacca.
• The Belgian attacker nets a last-gasp decisive goal for the hosts.
• The defeat means Chelsea slide to eleventh place in the group stage of the tournament.
• The top eight qualify automatically for the knockout phase.

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

Both sides entered this fixture with matching records in the league phase of this year's tournament, having won, drawn, and lost to sit on ten points.

For large parts there was not much to distinguish them in this encounter too, although Chelsea took the lead in the first half when Joao Pedro converted the captain's cross.

But The Serie A side remained a danger going forwards, with former Premier League attacker causing problems for the defence.

Reece James shot wide in the after the break but Atalanta increased the intensity and deservedly equalised when former West Ham United striker headed in a centering pass.

The winger drove a powerful shot straight at the goalkeeper but they scored the winner late on when the Chelsea defenders retreated from Charles de Ketelaere, who made no mistake with a low strike.

The visitors tried to rescue a point late on but a superb save by the Atalanta goalkeeper denied Joao 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 games remaining.

The Bergamo club, meanwhile, leap up to third place, three points ahead of the Blues.

Blues Breakdown - Concerning Run Continues

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

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

The Italian side are in fine fettle at the moment so this was always going to be a tough test for the Blues, but they will be disappointed to be departing with no points after securing the early advantage.

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

Since defeating the Spanish giants 3-0 at the close of November they are now winless in their last four outings.

Too Many Rotations Turning Out to Be Expensive?

Chelsea boss Maresca made five alterations for this game as he continued his strategy of rotating players in and out of the starting 11.

The rotations here followed after he implemented the identical amount for the defeat to Leeds and six for the draw with Bournemouth prior to the trip to Atalanta.

Maresca will see squad rotation as essential as he attempts to handle players' workloads and compete both at domestically and in Europe, but he stated the core group of players stays the unchanged for important fixtures.

"I think tonight [in] the first XI we had eight or nine players who featured against Tottenham, Barcelona, and Arsenal," he commented.

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

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

What Next for These Sides?

The Blues' next European game sees them host Pafos on Wednesday, 21 January (20:00 GMT).

The Italian team, on the other hand, are at home to Athletic Bilbao at the same time.