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Key Moments

• The Chelsea forward hands Chelsea the lead in the opening period.
• Atalanta the stronger side after the interval and draw level through Gianluca Scamacca.
• The Belgian attacker nets a late decisive goal for the home side.
• The defeat means Chelsea drop to eleventh place in the group stage of the tournament.
• The top eight qualify automatically for the last 16.

The London club's ambitions of qualifying automatically for the Champions League knockout stages were dealt a blow as Atalanta overturned a deficit to claim victory in Bergamo.

The two teams went into this game with the same records in the league phase of this year's tournament, having secured three victories, drawn, and suffered one defeat to sit on ten points.

For large parts there was very little to choose between them in this encounter too, although Chelsea got their noses in front in the opening 45 minutes when Joao Pedro turned in Reece James' delivery.

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

Reece James fired wide in the after the break but the home team increased the pressure and rightfully drew level when ex-West Ham striker nodded home a cross.

The winger drove a powerful shot straight at the goalkeeper but Atalanta secured the decisive strike late on when the Blues defence backed off the midfielder, who made no mistake with a driven strike.

Chelsea attempted to rescue a point in stoppage time but a brilliant stop by the Atalanta goalkeeper kept out Joao Pedro.

The outcome means Chelsea slip out of the top eight—the spots that progress automatically for the next round—to 11th with two league phase games left to play.

The Bergamo club, in contrast, jump up to third place, three points clear of the Londoners.

Chelsea Analysis - Worrying Sequence Continues

This was a hugely disappointing outcome for Chelsea as even a draw was leaving them in a strong position to achieve the top-eight position they need to avoid the lottery of the qualifying play-off round.

But they lost focus in their defensive duties with seven minutes remaining and Atalanta capitalised completely.

The Italian side are in fine fettle at the moment so this was always going to be a difficult examination for the visitors, but they will be annoyed to be leaving with nothing after taking the lead.

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

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

Excessive Changes Proving Costly?

Manager Enzo Maresca enacted five rotations for this game as he persisted with his policy of rotating players in and out of the starting lineup.

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

The coach will see rotation as vital as he attempts to manage players' workloads and compete both at domestically and abroad, but he maintained the key nucleus of players stays the same for key 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 is different but it involves the eight or nine players who played in that match.

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

What Next for These Sides?

The Blues' next Champions League fixture sees them welcome the Cypriot side on the coming Wednesday (20:00 GMT).

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