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Key Moments

• The Chelsea forward gives Chelsea the advantage in the first half.
• Atalanta the better side after the break and draw level through Gianluca Scamacca.
• Charles de Ketelaere nets a last-gasp winner 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 chances of securing a place automatically for the European Cup knockouts were suffered a setback as their Italian opponents overturned a deficit to claim victory in their home stadium.

The two teams went into this fixture with identical points tallies in the league phase of this season's tournament, 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, even though Chelsea took the lead in the first half when the Brazilian finished Reece James' cross.

But The Serie A side consistently appeared a danger going on the attack, with ex- Premier League attacker Ademola Lookman issues for the defence.

James fired wide in the after the break but Atalanta increased the intensity and deservedly drew level when ex-West Ham striker headed in a centering pass.

Alejandro Garnacho drove a strong effort straight at the goalkeeper but they scored the decisive strike late on when the Blues defence retreated from Charles de Ketelaere, who took full advantage with a driven finish.

The visitors attempted to salvage a draw 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 qualify automatically for the knockouts—to eleventh with two group stage fixtures left to play.

The Bergamo club, in contrast, climb up to third place, three points ahead of the Londoners.

Chelsea Analysis - Worrying Form Continues

This was a deeply frustrating result for Chelsea as even a draw was leaving them well placed to achieve the top-eight position they need to bypass the lottery of the qualifying play-off round.

But they let their concentration slip in defence with seven minutes remaining and their opponents capitalised completely.

The Italians are in fine fettle at the moment so this was always going to be a difficult test for the visitors, but they will be disappointed to be departing with no points after taking the lead.

But the broader context is that this extends Chelsea's concerning sequence of form in all tournaments.

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

Too Many Rotations Turning Out to Be Costly?

Chelsea boss Maresca enacted five rotations for this game as he persisted with his strategy of rotating players in and out of the first team.

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

The coach will view rotation as necessary as he tries to handle players' fitness and compete both at home and abroad, but he maintained the key nucleus of players remains the unchanged for important fixtures.

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

"If you see the five alterations that we did compared to the previous game it is different but it involves the same eight or nine players who played in that match.

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

What's Next for These Teams?

The Blues' next Champions League game sees them host Pafos on the coming Wednesday (8pm GMT).

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