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At a Glance

• Joao Pedro gives Chelsea the advantage in the first half.
• The Italian outfit the stronger side after the interval and equalise through the striker.
• Charles de Ketelaere grabs a late decisive goal for the hosts.
• Loss means Chelsea slide to eleventh place in the league phase of the tournament.
• The top eight progress automatically for the last 16.

The London club's hopes of securing a place automatically for the Champions League knockouts were dealt a blow as their Italian opponents fought back to win in Bergamo.

Each club went into this game with matching records in the initial stage of this year's tournament, having secured three victories, drawn, and lost to sit on ten points.

For much of the game there was little to distinguish them in this contest too, even though Chelsea took the lead in the first half when the Brazilian finished the captain's cross.

But Atalanta remained a threat going forwards, with former Charlton and Everton attacker causing problems for the backline.

Reece James fired wide in the after the break but the home team upped the intensity and justly levelled when former West Ham United striker Gianluca Scamacca a cross.

Alejandro Garnacho hammered a strong effort straight at the keeper but Atalanta secured the winning goal in the closing stages when the Blues defence backed off Charles de Ketelaere, who made no mistake with a driven shot.

The visitors attempted to salvage a draw late on but a superb save by the Atalanta goalkeeper denied Pedro.

The result means Chelsea slip out of the automatic qualification places—the positions that progress automatically for the knockouts—to 11th with two group stage games remaining.

Atalanta, meanwhile, jump up to third place, three points clear of the Londoners.

Blues Breakdown - Concerning Sequence Continues

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

But they let their concentration slip in defence with seven minutes left on the clock and Atalanta seized the moment.

The Italian side are in rich vein of form at the moment so this was always going to be a challenging examination for the visitors, but they will be frustrated to be leaving with nothing after securing the lead.

But the broader context is that this perpetuates Chelsea's worrying sequence of form in all competitions.

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

Excessive Rotations Turning Out to Be Costly?

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

The rotations here came after he implemented the same number for the loss to Leeds United and six for the tie with Bournemouth prior to the trip to Bergamo.

The coach will see rotation as vital as he tries to manage players' minutes and challenge both at home and abroad, but he insisted the core group of players stays the unchanged for key fixtures.

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

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

"The players who played tonight are the ones who feature in almost all the matches."

What Next for These Clubs?

The Blues' next European fixture sees them welcome the Cypriot side on Wednesday, 21 January (8pm GMT).

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