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At a Glance

• Joao Pedro hands Chelsea the lead in the first half.
• The Italian outfit the stronger side after the interval and draw level through Gianluca Scamacca.
• The Belgian attacker grabs a last-gasp decisive goal for the home side.
• Loss means Chelsea drop to eleventh place in the group stage of the Champions League.
• The leading eight teams progress automatically for the knockout phase.

Chelsea's hopes of qualifying automatically for the Champions League knockout stages were suffered a setback as Atalanta fought back to win in Bergamo.

Each club entered this match with matching points tallies in the initial stage 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 separate them in this contest too, even though Chelsea got their noses in front in the first half when Joao Pedro finished Reece James' delivery.

But The Serie A side always looked a danger going forwards, with ex- Charlton and Everton attacker creating problems for the backline.

James shot wide in the after the break but the home team upped the pressure and justly equalised when former West Ham United striker headed in a cross.

The winger hammered a strong effort straight at the keeper but Atalanta got the winning goal in the closing stages when the Blues defenders backed off the midfielder, who made no mistake with a powerful strike.

Chelsea attempted to salvage a draw late on but a brilliant save by the Atalanta goalkeeper kept out Joao Pedro.

The final score means Chelsea slip out of the automatic qualification places—the positions that progress automatically for the next round—to 11th with two league phase games left to play.

Atalanta, in contrast, leap up to third place, three points ahead of the Blues.

Blues Breakdown - Concerning Sequence Persists

This was a deeply disappointing result for Chelsea as even a point was keeping them in a strong position to secure the top-eight position they need to avoid the uncertainty of the qualifying play-off round.

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

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 frustrated to be departing with nothing after taking the lead.

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

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

Excessive Rotations Proving Expensive?

Chelsea boss Maresca enacted five rotations for this match as he continued his strategy of rotating players in and out of the starting 11.

The changes here came after he implemented the same number for the defeat to Leeds United and six for the tie with AFC Bournemouth prior to the trip to Atalanta.

Maresca will see rotation as necessary as he tries to manage players' workloads and challenge both at home and in Europe, but he insisted the key nucleus of players stays the unchanged for crucial fixtures.

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

"If you look at the five changes that we did compared to the previous game it may be a change but it is the eight or nine players playing in that match.

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

What Next for These Clubs?

Chelsea's next European fixture sees them host Pafos on Wednesday, 21 January (20:00 GMT).

The Italian team, meanwhile, are at home to Athletic Club at the identical kick-off time.