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Match Summary

• The Chelsea forward hands Chelsea the lead in the opening period.
• The Italian outfit the stronger side after the break and draw level through the striker.
• The Belgian attacker grabs a late decisive goal for the home side.
• The defeat means Chelsea drop to 11th in the group stage of the tournament.
• The top eight progress automatically for the knockout phase.

Chelsea's ambitions of qualifying automatically for the European Cup knockouts were dealt a blow as Atalanta fought back to triumph in Bergamo.

Both sides entered this fixture with matching records in the league phase of this season's competition, having won, drawn, and suffered one defeat to have accrued 10 points.

For much of the game there was very little to separate them in this encounter too, although Chelsea got their noses in front in the first half when Joao Pedro converted the captain's delivery.

But Atalanta remained a threat going forward, with former Premier League attacker Ademola Lookman problems for the defence.

Reece James fired wide in the after the break but Atalanta raised the intensity and rightfully equalised when former West Ham United striker nodded home a centering pass.

The winger drove a powerful shot straight at the goalkeeper but they secured the winner late on when the Chelsea defence retreated from the midfielder, who seized the opportunity with a low shot.

Chelsea tried to rescue a point late on but a excellent save by the Atalanta goalkeeper denied Joao Pedro.

The result means Chelsea fall out of the automatic qualification places—the spots that progress automatically for the next round—to eleventh with two league phase matches remaining.

The Bergamo club, meanwhile, jump up to third place, three points ahead of the Londoners.

Blues Breakdown - Worrying Run Continues

This was a deeply frustrating result for Chelsea as even a point was leaving them in a strong position to secure the top eight position they need to bypass the lottery of the play-offs.

But they lost focus in their defensive duties with seven minutes remaining and Atalanta seized the moment.

The Italians are in fine fettle at the moment so this was always going to be a tough examination for the Blues, but they will be annoyed to be leaving with nothing after taking the early advantage.

But the bigger picture is that this perpetuates Chelsea's worrying streak of results in all competitions.

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

Excessive Changes Proving Expensive?

Manager Enzo Enzo Maresca made five changes for this game as he persisted with his run of moving players in and out of the starting lineup.

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

Maresca will view squad rotation as necessary as he tries to handle players' fitness and compete both at domestically and in Europe, but he stated the key nucleus of players stays the unchanged for key games.

"I believe tonight [in] the first XI we had eight or nine players who played against Tottenham Hotspur, FC Barcelona, and Arsenal," he stated.

"If you look at the five alterations that we made compared to the previous game it may be different but it is the same eight or nine players playing in that match.

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

What Next for These Sides?

The Blues' next European game sees them host the Cypriot side on the coming Wednesday (20:00 GMT).

The Italian team, on the other hand, host Athletic Bilbao at the same time.