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Key Moments

• Joao Pedro gives Chelsea the lead in the opening period.
• Atalanta the stronger side after the break and equalise through the striker.
• Charles de Ketelaere scores a late decisive goal for the hosts.
• The defeat means Chelsea slide to 11th in the league phase of the Champions League.
• The top eight progress automatically for the last 16.

The London club's ambitions of qualifying automatically for the European Cup knockouts were hit hard as Atalanta overturned a deficit to triumph in Bergamo.

Each club entered this game with identical points tallies in the league phase of this year's competition, having secured three victories, drawn, and lost to be on ten points.

For much of the game there was not much to choose between them in this encounter too, although Chelsea took the lead in the opening 45 minutes when Joao Pedro turned in the captain's delivery.

But Atalanta always looked a threat going on the attack, with former Premier League attacker causing problems for the defence.

Reece James shot wide in the second half but Atalanta increased the pressure and deservedly levelled when former West Ham United striker Gianluca Scamacca a cross.

Alejandro Garnacho hammered a strong effort straight at the keeper but they got the winning goal in the closing stages when the Chelsea defence backed off Charles de Ketelaere, who took full advantage with a driven strike.

Chelsea tried to rescue a draw late on but a superb stop by Marco Carnesecchi kept out Pedro.

The final score means Chelsea slip out of the top eight—the positions that progress automatically for the next round—to 11th with two group stage fixtures left to play.

Atalanta, in contrast, climb up to third place, three points ahead of the Londoners.

Chelsea Analysis - Worrying Sequence Persists

This was a extremely frustrating result for Chelsea as even a draw was keeping them in a strong position to secure the top eight position they require to bypass the uncertainty of the play-offs.

But they lost focus in defence with seven minutes remaining and Atalanta capitalised completely.

The Italians are in good 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 taking the early advantage.

But the wider issue is that this continues Chelsea's worrying sequence of results in all tournaments.

Since defeating Barcelona 3-0 at the end of November they are now winless in their last four games.

Excessive Changes Proving Costly?

Chelsea boss Maresca enacted five alterations for this match as he persisted with his policy of rotating players in and out of the first team.

The rotations here came after he made the identical amount for the loss to Leeds and six for the draw with Bournemouth prior to the journey to Atalanta.

Maresca will view squad rotation as essential as he tries to manage players' fitness and compete both at domestically and abroad, but he insisted the key nucleus of players remains the same for crucial fixtures.

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

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

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

What's Next for These Clubs?

Chelsea's next Champions League fixture sees them welcome Pafos on the coming Wednesday (20:00 GMT).

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