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Key Moments

• The Chelsea forward hands Chelsea the advantage in the first half.
• The Italian outfit the better side after the interval and equalise through the striker.
• The Belgian attacker scores a last-gasp decisive goal for the home side.
• Loss means Chelsea slide to eleventh place in the group stage of the tournament.
• The top eight progress automatically for the knockouts.

The London club's hopes of qualifying automatically for the Champions League knockouts were suffered a setback as their Italian opponents fought back to triumph in Bergamo.

Each club went into this match with identical points tallies in the league phase of this season's competition, having won, tied one, and suffered one defeat to sit on ten points.

For extended periods there was very little to choose between them in this encounter too, even though Chelsea went ahead in the opening 45 minutes when Joao Pedro turned in Reece James' delivery.

But The Serie A side consistently appeared a threat going forward, with former Charlton and Everton attacker Ademola Lookman issues for the backline.

James fired wide in the second half but Atalanta increased the intensity and deservedly levelled when former West Ham United striker Gianluca Scamacca a centering pass.

Alejandro Garnacho drove a powerful shot straight at the keeper but Atalanta secured the winner in the closing stages when the Chelsea defenders retreated from the midfielder, who seized the opportunity with a low strike.

Chelsea attempted to salvage a point in stoppage time but a brilliant save by Marco Carnesecchi denied Pedro.

The final score means Chelsea slip out of the top eight—the spots that progress automatically for the knockouts—to 11th with two group stage games remaining.

Atalanta, meanwhile, climb up to third, three points clear of the Blues.

Chelsea Analysis - Concerning Sequence Continues

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

But they let their concentration slip in defence with seven minutes left on the clock and Atalanta capitalised completely.

The Italian side 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 frustrated to be leaving with no points after securing the lead.

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

Since beating Barcelona 3-0 at the end of November they are now without a win in their last four matches.

Excessive Rotations Proving Costly?

Chelsea boss Maresca enacted five changes for this match as he continued his run of rotating players in and out of the starting 11.

The rotations here came after he made the identical amount for the defeat to Leeds and six for the tie with AFC Bournemouth prior to the journey to Bergamo.

Maresca will view rotation as essential as he tries to manage players' fitness and compete both at home and in Europe, but he insisted the central contingent of players remains the unchanged 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 did relative to the previous game it may be a change but it involves the same eight or nine players playing Barcelona.

"The players who took to the field this evening are the individuals playing almost all the games."

What's Next for These Clubs?

The Blues' next European fixture sees them host Pafos on Wednesday, 21 January (8pm GMT).

Atalanta, on the other hand, host Athletic Bilbao at the same time.