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At a Glance

• The Chelsea forward gives Chelsea the lead in the opening period.
• The Italian outfit the better side after the break and equalise through Gianluca Scamacca.
• The Belgian attacker scores a late decisive goal for the home side.
• The defeat means Chelsea fall to eleventh place in the group stage of the tournament.
• The top eight progress automatically for the last 16.

Chelsea's ambitions of qualifying automatically for the European Cup knockouts were suffered a setback as Atalanta fought back to triumph in their home stadium.

Each club entered this match with identical records in the initial stage of this season's competition, having secured three victories, drawn, and lost to sit on ten points.

For large parts there was little to distinguish them in this contest too, even though Chelsea got their noses in front in the first half when Joao Pedro converted Reece James' cross.

But The Serie A side always looked a threat going forward, with ex- Charlton and Everton attacker Ademola Lookman problems for the defence.

James shot wide in the after the break but Atalanta raised the pressure and justly levelled when former West Ham United striker Gianluca Scamacca a centering pass.

Alejandro Garnacho drove a powerful shot straight at the keeper but they scored the winning goal in the closing stages when the Chelsea defence backed off the midfielder, who took full advantage with a low strike.

The visitors attempted to rescue a draw late on but a superb stop by the Atalanta goalkeeper denied Pedro.

The result means Chelsea drop out of the top eight—the positions that progress automatically for the knockouts—to eleventh with two group stage fixtures remaining.

The Bergamo club, in contrast, leap up to third place, three points ahead of the Blues.

Chelsea Analysis - Concerning Sequence Continues

This was a extremely frustrating result for Chelsea as even a draw was leaving them in a strong position to achieve the top eight finish they require to bypass the uncertainty of the qualifying play-off round.

But they let their concentration slip in defence 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 tough examination for the Blues, but they will be disappointed to be leaving with no points after taking the lead.

But the broader context is that this perpetuates Chelsea's concerning run of form in all competitions.

Since defeating 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?

Manager Enzo Enzo Maresca made five rotations for this match as he continued his strategy of rotating players in and out of the first team.

The changes here came after he implemented the identical amount for the loss to Leeds United and six for the tie with AFC Bournemouth prior to the journey to Atalanta.

The coach will view squad rotation as essential as he tries to manage players' minutes and compete both at home and in Europe, but he maintained the key nucleus of players stays the unchanged for important fixtures.

"I believe in this match [in] the first XI we had eight or nine players who played against Tottenham Hotspur, Barcelona, and the Gunners," he commented.

"If you see the five changes that we made compared to Bournemouth it is different but it involves the eight or nine players playing Barcelona.

"The ones who took to the field tonight are the individuals playing almost all the games."

What Next for These Sides?

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

The Italian team, on the other hand, host Athletic Bilbao at the identical kick-off time.