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Key Moments

• The Chelsea forward hands Chelsea the advantage in the opening period.
• Atalanta the better side after the break and equalise through Gianluca Scamacca.
• The Belgian attacker grabs a last-gasp decisive goal for the home side.
• The defeat means Chelsea slide to 11th in the league phase of the tournament.
• The top eight progress automatically for the knockouts.

Chelsea's ambitions of securing a place automatically for the Champions League knockouts were suffered a setback as Atalanta fought back to triumph in Bergamo.

The two teams entered this match with matching records in the initial stage of this season's competition, having won, tied one, and lost to have accrued 10 points.

For large parts there was not much to choose between them in this contest too, even though Chelsea took the lead in the first half when Joao Pedro turned in Reece James' delivery.

But Atalanta always looked a danger going forwards, with ex- Premier League attacker causing problems for the defence.

James shot wide in the after the break but the home team raised the pressure and justly drew level when ex-West Ham striker nodded home a centering pass.

Alejandro Garnacho hammered a powerful shot straight at the goalkeeper but they secured the winner in the closing stages when the Chelsea defenders retreated from the midfielder, who took full advantage with a driven finish.

Chelsea tried to rescue a point in stoppage time but a excellent save by Marco Carnesecchi denied Joao Pedro.

The outcome means Chelsea slip out of the top eight—the positions that qualify automatically for the next round—to eleventh with two league phase games left to play.

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

Chelsea Analysis - Worrying Form Persists

This was a hugely frustrating result for Chelsea as even a draw was keeping them well placed to achieve the top eight position they need to avoid the lottery of the qualifying play-off round.

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

The Italians are in rich vein of form at the moment so this was always going to be a challenging test for the visitors, but they will be annoyed to be departing with no points after taking the lead.

But the wider issue is that this extends Chelsea's troubling run of form in all tournaments.

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

Excessive Changes Turning Out to Be Costly?

Manager Enzo Enzo Maresca enacted five rotations for this match as he persisted with his policy of moving players in and out of the starting lineup.

The changes here followed after he made the same number for the defeat to Leeds United and six for the tie with AFC Bournemouth prior to the trip to Bergamo.

Maresca will view rotation as necessary as he tries to manage players' workloads and challenge both at domestically and in Europe, but he insisted the key nucleus of players remains the unchanged for key games.

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

"If you look at the five changes that we made relative to the previous game it may be a change but it is the same eight or nine players playing Barcelona.

"The ones who took to the field this evening are the ones playing almost all the games."

Up Next for These Teams?

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

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