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At a Glance

• The Chelsea forward hands Chelsea the lead in the first half.
• Atalanta the stronger side after the break and equalise through Gianluca Scamacca.
• Charles de Ketelaere nets a last-gasp winner for the hosts.
• The defeat means Chelsea fall to 11th in the league phase of the tournament.
• The top eight progress automatically for the last 16.

The London club's chances of securing a place automatically for the Champions League knockouts were suffered a setback as their Italian opponents overturned a deficit to claim victory in their home stadium.

Each club went into this fixture with matching records in the initial stage of this year's tournament, having secured three victories, drawn, and lost to be on 10 points.

For extended periods there was not much to distinguish them in this contest too, although Chelsea got their noses in front in the first half when the Brazilian finished the captain's delivery.

But The Serie A side always looked a threat going on the attack, with ex- Charlton and Everton attacker causing problems for the backline.

Reece James fired wide in the second half but the home team raised the pressure and justly drew level when former West Ham United striker headed in a centering pass.

The winger drove a strong effort straight at the goalkeeper but Atalanta scored the winning goal late on when the Chelsea defenders retreated from the midfielder, who made no mistake with a powerful strike.

The visitors tried to salvage a point in stoppage time but a superb stop by Marco Carnesecchi denied Pedro.

The outcome means Chelsea fall out of the top eight—the spots that progress automatically for the next round—to 11th with two league phase fixtures left to play.

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

Blues Breakdown - Worrying Form Persists

This was a extremely frustrating outcome for Chelsea as even a draw was keeping them in a strong position to achieve the top eight position they require to avoid the lottery of the play-offs.

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

The Italian side are in good form at the moment so this was always going to be a tough test for the Blues, but they will be disappointed to be departing with no points after taking the early advantage.

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

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

Excessive Rotations Turning Out to Be 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 first team.

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

The coach will view rotation as essential as he tries to handle players' fitness and compete both at domestically and in Europe, but he maintained the core group of players remains the unchanged for key games.

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

"If you see the five changes that we did compared to the previous game it is a change but it is the eight or nine players who played Barcelona.

"The players who took to the field this evening are the individuals who feature in almost all the matches."

What's Next for These Sides?

The Blues' next European game sees them welcome the Cypriot side on the coming Wednesday (8pm GMT).

Atalanta, on the other hand, are at home to Athletic Club at the identical kick-off time.