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Match Summary

• Joao Pedro hands Chelsea the lead in the opening period.
• The Italian outfit the better side after the interval and equalise through the striker.
• Charles de Ketelaere scores a late winner for the hosts.
• Loss means Chelsea slide to eleventh place in the league phase of the tournament.
• The leading eight teams progress automatically for the last 16.

Chelsea's chances of qualifying automatically for the Champions League knockout stages were suffered a setback as their Italian opponents came from behind to claim victory in Bergamo.

Both sides entered this game with identical points tallies in the league phase of this year's tournament, having secured three victories, tied one, and suffered one defeat to sit on 10 points.

For much of the game there was very little to choose between them in this contest too, although Chelsea went ahead in the opening 45 minutes when the Brazilian converted the captain's delivery.

But Atalanta remained a danger going on the attack, with ex- Premier League attacker creating problems for the defence.

James shot wide in the after the break but Atalanta upped the intensity and rightfully levelled when former West Ham United striker nodded home a centering pass.

Alejandro Garnacho drove a powerful shot straight at the goalkeeper but they got the winner late on when the Chelsea defence backed off Charles de Ketelaere, who seized the opportunity with a driven strike.

The visitors attempted to rescue a point late on but a superb save by Marco Carnesecchi denied Pedro.

The final score means Chelsea drop out of the automatic qualification places—the spots that progress automatically for the knockouts—to eleventh with two group stage matches remaining.

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

Chelsea Analysis - Worrying Form Persists

This was a extremely frustrating result for Chelsea as even a point was leaving them well placed to secure the top-eight position they require to bypass the uncertainty of the play-offs.

But they let their concentration slip in their defensive duties with seven minutes left on the clock and their opponents took full advantage.

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 annoyed to be departing with no points after securing the early advantage.

But the bigger picture is that this extends Chelsea's troubling streak of results in all tournaments.

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

Too Many Rotations Turning Out to Be Costly?

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

The rotations here came after he made the identical amount for the defeat to Leeds and six for the draw with AFC Bournemouth prior to the journey to Atalanta.

The coach will view rotation as essential as he tries to manage players' fitness and challenge both at domestically and in Europe, but he stated the central contingent of players remains the unchanged for crucial fixtures.

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

"If you look at the five alterations that we did relative to the previous game it is different but it involves the same eight or nine players who played Barcelona.

"The players who played tonight are the individuals playing almost all the games."

What Next for These Sides?

The Blues' next European fixture sees them welcome the Cypriot side on Wednesday, 21 January (20:00 GMT).

Atalanta, meanwhile, are at home to Athletic Bilbao at the identical kick-off time.