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At a Glance

• Joao Pedro hands Chelsea the advantage in the opening period.
• Atalanta the better side after the break and draw level through the striker.
• Charles de Ketelaere scores a last-gasp winner for the home side.
• Loss means Chelsea fall to 11th in the league phase of the Champions League.
• The leading eight teams progress automatically for the knockout phase.

The London club's ambitions of qualifying automatically for the Champions League knockout stages were hit hard as Atalanta overturned a deficit to win in their home stadium.

The two teams entered this game with the same records in the initial stage of this year's tournament, having won, drawn, and lost to have accrued 10 points.

For much of the game there was little to choose between them in this contest too, even though Chelsea took the lead in the first half when Joao Pedro converted Reece James' cross.

But Atalanta consistently appeared a threat going forwards, with ex- Charlton and Everton attacker causing issues for the backline.

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

The winger drove a powerful shot straight at the goalkeeper but Atalanta got the winning goal in the closing stages when the Blues defence backed off Charles de Ketelaere, who took full advantage with a powerful shot.

Chelsea attempted to salvage a point late on but a brilliant save by Marco Carnesecchi kept out Pedro.

The final score means Chelsea fall out of the top eight—the spots that qualify automatically for the next round—to 11th with two league phase fixtures remaining.

The Bergamo club, meanwhile, leap up to third place, three points ahead of the Londoners.

Blues Breakdown - Concerning Sequence Persists

This was a deeply frustrating result for Chelsea as even a draw was leaving them well placed to secure the top eight finish they require to avoid the lottery of the qualifying play-off round.

But they let their concentration slip in defence with seven minutes remaining and their opponents seized the moment.

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

But the broader context is that this continues Chelsea's troubling streak of form in all tournaments.

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

Excessive Rotations Proving Costly?

Chelsea boss Maresca made five alterations for this game as he persisted with his policy of moving players in and out of the first team.

The changes here followed after he implemented the same number for the defeat to Leeds United and six for the tie with Bournemouth prior to the journey to Atalanta.

Maresca will view squad rotation as vital as he tries to handle players' workloads and compete both at domestically and in Europe, but he maintained the central contingent of players remains the same for crucial games.

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

"If you see the five alterations that we made compared to Bournemouth it may be different but it involves the same eight or nine players playing Barcelona.

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

Up Next for These Clubs?

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

The Italian team, on the other hand, host Athletic Bilbao at the same time.