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At a Glance

• Joao Pedro hands Chelsea the lead in the first half.
• The Italian outfit the better side after the break and draw level through Gianluca Scamacca.
• The Belgian attacker nets a late decisive goal for the home side.
• The defeat means Chelsea fall to 11th in the league phase of the tournament.
• The leading eight teams progress automatically for the last 16.

The London club's chances of qualifying automatically for the European Cup knockouts were hit hard as Atalanta fought back to triumph in their home stadium.

Each club entered this fixture with the same records in the league phase of this season's competition, having secured three victories, drawn, and suffered one defeat to sit on ten points.

For large parts there was not much to choose between them in this contest too, although Chelsea took the lead in the opening 45 minutes when the Brazilian turned in Reece James' cross.

But The Serie A side consistently appeared a threat going forward, with ex- Premier League attacker Ademola Lookman issues for the defence.

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

Alejandro Garnacho hammered a powerful shot straight at the goalkeeper but they got the decisive strike in the closing stages when the Chelsea defenders backed off the midfielder, who seized the opportunity with a low shot.

Chelsea attempted to rescue a draw in stoppage time but a excellent stop by Marco Carnesecchi denied Joao Pedro.

The result means Chelsea drop 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, in contrast, jump up to third place, three points clear of the Londoners.

Blues Breakdown - Worrying Run Persists

This was a deeply disappointing result for Chelsea as even a draw was leaving them in a strong position to secure the top-eight finish they require to bypass the uncertainty of the play-offs.

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

The Italians 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 frustrated to be departing with no points after securing the early advantage.

But the broader context is that this extends Chelsea's worrying streak of results in all competitions.

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

Excessive Rotations Turning Out to Be Expensive?

Manager Enzo Maresca made five changes for this game as he continued his strategy of moving players in and out of the first team.

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

Maresca will see squad rotation as essential as he attempts to manage players' fitness and compete both at domestically and in Europe, but he stated the central contingent of players remains the same for key fixtures.

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

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

"The ones 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 Champions League game sees them host Pafos on Wednesday, 21 January (8pm GMT).

The Italian team, meanwhile, host Athletic Bilbao at the identical kick-off time.