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Match Summary

• Joao Pedro hands Chelsea the lead in the opening period.
• The Italian outfit the better side after the break and equalise through the striker.
• The Belgian attacker grabs a last-gasp decisive goal for the hosts.
• Loss means Chelsea fall to 11th in the league phase of the Champions League.
• The leading eight teams progress automatically for the knockouts.

The London club's chances of qualifying automatically for the European Cup knockout stages were suffered a setback as their Italian opponents came from behind to triumph in their home stadium.

Each club entered this fixture with matching records in the league phase of this season's competition, having secured three victories, tied one, and lost to be on 10 points.

For much of the game there was not much to separate them in this contest too, even though Chelsea went ahead in the opening 45 minutes when the Brazilian converted Reece James' delivery.

But The Serie A side consistently appeared a danger going on the attack, with former Premier League attacker Ademola Lookman problems for the backline.

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

The winger drove a strong effort straight at the goalkeeper but they scored the winning goal in the closing stages when the Blues defence retreated from the midfielder, who made no mistake with a driven finish.

Chelsea attempted to rescue a draw in stoppage time but a superb stop by Marco Carnesecchi denied Pedro.

The outcome means Chelsea slip out of the top eight—the positions that progress automatically for the next round—to eleventh with two league phase fixtures remaining.

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

Chelsea Analysis - Worrying Sequence Persists

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

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 tough test for the Blues, but they will be frustrated to be leaving with no points after taking the early advantage.

But the broader context is that this extends Chelsea's troubling streak of form in all tournaments.

Since beating the Spanish giants 3-0 at the end of November they are now winless in their last four matches.

Too Many Rotations Turning Out to Be Expensive?

Chelsea boss Maresca enacted five alterations for this match as he persisted with his policy of rotating players in and out of the first team.

The rotations here followed after he made the same number for the loss to Leeds and six for the draw with AFC Bournemouth prior to the trip to Bergamo.

Maresca will view rotation as essential as he tries to manage players' minutes and challenge both at domestically and abroad, but he stated the central contingent of players stays the same for crucial games.

"I think tonight [in] the starting lineup we had eight or nine players who played against Tottenham, Barcelona, and the Gunners," he said.

"If you look at the five changes that we did compared to Bournemouth it may be a change but it is the eight or nine players who played Barcelona.

"The players who played tonight are the individuals playing almost all the matches."

What Next for These Clubs?

Chelsea's next Champions League game sees them welcome Pafos on the coming Wednesday (8pm GMT).

Atalanta, meanwhile, host Athletic Club at the same time.