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At a Glance

• Joao Pedro hands Chelsea the advantage in the opening period.
• The Italian outfit the stronger side after the interval and equalise through Gianluca Scamacca.
• Charles de Ketelaere nets a last-gasp winner for the home side.
• Loss means Chelsea slide to eleventh place in the group stage of the Champions League.
• The leading eight teams qualify automatically for the knockout phase.

Chelsea's hopes of qualifying automatically for the European Cup knockout stages were dealt a blow as Atalanta fought back to win in their home stadium.

Each club went into this match with the same records in the initial stage of this year's tournament, having won, tied one, and suffered one defeat to sit on 10 points.

For much of the game there was not much to choose between them in this encounter too, even though Chelsea took the lead in the first half when Joao Pedro converted Reece James' delivery.

But The Serie A side always looked a danger going on the attack, with ex- Premier League attacker creating issues for the backline.

James fired wide in the after the break but Atalanta upped the intensity and rightfully levelled when former West Ham United striker headed in a centering pass.

Alejandro Garnacho hammered a powerful shot straight at the goalkeeper but they got the winning goal late on when the Chelsea defenders retreated from Charles de Ketelaere, who seized the opportunity with a powerful finish.

Chelsea tried to salvage a draw in stoppage time but a brilliant stop by Marco Carnesecchi kept out Pedro.

The final score means Chelsea slip out of the automatic qualification places—the spots that progress automatically for the knockouts—to eleventh with two league phase fixtures left to play.

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

Blues Breakdown - Concerning Run Continues

This was a extremely frustrating result for Chelsea as even a point was leaving them well placed to achieve the top eight finish they need to bypass the lottery of the qualifying play-off round.

But they lacked concentration in defence with seven minutes left on the clock and their opponents capitalised completely.

The Italians are in rich vein of form at the moment so this was always going to be a difficult examination for the visitors, but they will be frustrated to be departing with nothing after securing the early advantage.

But the broader context is that this perpetuates Chelsea's troubling sequence 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 Proving Expensive?

Chelsea boss Maresca enacted five rotations for this match as he persisted with his run 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 tie with Bournemouth prior to the journey to Bergamo.

Maresca will see rotation as essential as he attempts to manage players' minutes and challenge both at home and abroad, but he maintained the central contingent of players remains the same for crucial games.

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

"If you see the five changes that we did relative to Bournemouth it may be a change but it is the same eight or nine players who played in that match.

"The players who played this evening are the individuals who feature in almost all the matches."

What's Next for These Clubs?

Chelsea's next European game sees them host Pafos on the coming Wednesday (20:00 GMT).

Atalanta, meanwhile, host Athletic Bilbao at the identical kick-off time.