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Key Moments

• The Chelsea forward hands Chelsea the advantage in the first half.
• Atalanta the stronger side after the break and equalise through Gianluca Scamacca.
• Charles de Ketelaere grabs a last-gasp decisive goal for the hosts.
• Loss means Chelsea slide to 11th in the group stage of the Champions League.
• The leading eight teams progress automatically for the knockouts.

The London club's ambitions of qualifying automatically for the European Cup knockout stages were dealt a blow as their Italian opponents came from behind to claim victory in Bergamo.

Each club entered this fixture with matching points tallies in the league phase of this year's competition, having won, tied one, and lost to sit on ten points.

For extended periods there was little to separate them in this encounter too, even though Chelsea got their noses in front in the opening 45 minutes when Joao Pedro finished the captain's cross.

But Atalanta always looked a threat going forwards, with former Premier League attacker creating problems for the defence.

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

The winger hammered a powerful shot straight at the keeper but they got the winner in the closing stages when the Blues defence retreated from the midfielder, who made no mistake with a low strike.

Chelsea attempted to rescue a point in stoppage time but a superb stop by Marco Carnesecchi 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 league phase fixtures left to play.

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

Blues Breakdown - Worrying Form Persists

This was a hugely disappointing outcome for Chelsea as even a draw was leaving them in a strong position to secure the top eight position they need to bypass the lottery of the play-offs.

But they lost focus in their defensive duties with seven minutes left on the clock and Atalanta seized the moment.

The Italians are in fine fettle at the moment so this was always going to be a challenging examination for the Blues, but they will be annoyed to be departing with nothing after securing the early advantage.

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

Since defeating the Spanish giants 3-0 at the end of November they are now winless in their last four outings.

Excessive Rotations Turning Out to Be Expensive?

Manager Enzo Enzo Maresca enacted five alterations for this match as he continued his strategy of rotating players in and out of the first team.

The changes 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 see rotation as vital as he tries to handle players' minutes and compete both at domestically and abroad, but he maintained the central contingent of players remains the unchanged for crucial games.

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

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

"The ones who took to the field tonight are the individuals playing almost all the games."

Up Next for These Clubs?

The Blues' next Champions League game sees them host the Cypriot side on the coming Wednesday (20:00 GMT).

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