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At a Glance

• Joao Pedro gives Chelsea the lead in the opening period.
• Atalanta the better side after the break and equalise through Gianluca Scamacca.
• Charles de Ketelaere scores a late decisive goal for the hosts.
• Loss means Chelsea slide to 11th in the league phase of the tournament.
• The leading eight teams progress automatically for the knockout phase.

The London club's chances of securing a place automatically for the European Cup knockout stages were dealt a blow as their Italian opponents came from behind to win in their home stadium.

The two teams entered this game with the same records in the initial stage of this season's tournament, having won, tied one, and lost to have accrued ten points.

For much of the game there was little to choose between them in this contest too, although Chelsea took the lead in the opening 45 minutes when the Brazilian turned in the captain's cross.

But The Serie A side consistently appeared a threat going forwards, with ex- Premier League attacker causing problems for the defence.

Reece James shot wide in the after the break but the home team increased the pressure and justly drew level when former West Ham United striker Gianluca Scamacca a cross.

The winger hammered a powerful shot straight at the goalkeeper but they scored the winning goal late on when the Chelsea defence backed off Charles de Ketelaere, who made no mistake with a low finish.

The visitors tried to salvage a draw late on but a brilliant stop by Marco Carnesecchi kept out Pedro.

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

The Bergamo club, meanwhile, leap up to third, three points clear of the Blues.

Blues Breakdown - Worrying Run Continues

This was a hugely disappointing outcome for Chelsea as even a point was leaving them well placed to secure the top-eight finish they need to avoid the lottery of the play-offs.

But they let their concentration slip in defence with seven minutes remaining and Atalanta capitalised completely.

The Italian side are in rich vein of form at the moment so this was always going to be a difficult test for the Blues, but they will be annoyed to be departing with nothing after taking the early advantage.

But the broader context is that this extends Chelsea's worrying run of results in all tournaments.

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

Too Many Rotations Turning Out to Be Costly?

Manager Enzo Maresca enacted five rotations for this match as he continued his strategy of moving players in and out of the starting lineup.

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

The coach will see squad rotation as vital as he attempts to manage players' fitness and compete both at domestically and in Europe, but he insisted the core group of players stays the unchanged for crucial games.

"I believe in this match [in] the starting lineup we had eight or nine players who played against Tottenham, FC Barcelona, and Arsenal," he commented.

"If you see the five changes that we did relative to the previous game it is different but it is the eight or nine players who played Barcelona.

"The ones who played tonight are the ones who feature in almost all the games."

Up Next for These Clubs?

The Blues' next Champions League game sees them welcome Pafos on Wednesday, 21 January (20:00 GMT).

Atalanta, meanwhile, are at home to Athletic Bilbao at the same time.