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Key Moments

• The Chelsea forward gives Chelsea the lead in the opening period.
• Atalanta the stronger side after the break and equalise through Gianluca Scamacca.
• The Belgian attacker nets a late winner for the hosts.
• The defeat means Chelsea fall to 11th in the league phase of the Champions League.
• The leading eight teams progress automatically for the knockouts.

The London club's hopes of securing a place automatically for the Champions League knockout stages were suffered a setback as Atalanta overturned a deficit to claim victory in Bergamo.

The two teams went into this match with identical points tallies in the league phase of this season's tournament, having won, drawn, and suffered one defeat to sit on 10 points.

For extended periods there was very little to separate them in this contest too, although Chelsea took the lead in the opening 45 minutes when Joao Pedro converted the captain's delivery.

But Atalanta remained a danger going forward, with ex- Premier League attacker causing problems for the backline.

Reece James fired wide in the second half but Atalanta raised the intensity and rightfully drew level when former West Ham United striker nodded home a centering pass.

Alejandro Garnacho hammered a strong effort straight at the goalkeeper but they scored the decisive strike late on when the Chelsea defenders backed off the midfielder, who made no mistake with a driven strike.

The visitors tried to rescue a point in stoppage time but a brilliant save by the Atalanta goalkeeper kept out Joao Pedro.

The outcome means Chelsea drop out of the automatic qualification places—the spots that qualify automatically for the knockouts—to eleventh with two league phase matches remaining.

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

Blues Breakdown - Worrying Run Persists

This was a extremely frustrating result for Chelsea as even a draw was keeping them in a strong position to achieve the top eight position they need to bypass the uncertainty of the play-offs.

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

The Italian side are in good form at the moment so this was always going to be a difficult examination for the visitors, but they will be annoyed to be leaving with no points after securing the early advantage.

But the bigger picture is that this continues Chelsea's concerning sequence of results in all tournaments.

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

Excessive Changes Proving Expensive?

Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca made five changes for this match as he persisted with his policy of rotating players in and out of the starting 11.

The changes here followed after he implemented the same number for the loss to Leeds and six for the draw with Bournemouth prior to the trip to Atalanta.

The coach will see rotation as vital as he tries to manage players' fitness and compete both at domestically and in Europe, but he stated the key nucleus of players remains the unchanged for crucial fixtures.

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

"If you see the five alterations that we made compared to Bournemouth it may be different but it involves the same eight or nine players playing in that match.

"The players who played this evening are the individuals who feature in almost all the matches."

What's Next for These Sides?

Chelsea's next European game sees them welcome the Cypriot side on Wednesday, 21 January (20:00 GMT).

Atalanta, meanwhile, host Athletic Club at the identical kick-off time.