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Key Moments

• The Chelsea forward gives Chelsea the lead in the first half.
• The Italian outfit the better side after the break and draw level through Gianluca Scamacca.
• Charles de Ketelaere scores a late winner for the home side.
• Loss means Chelsea drop to 11th in the league phase of the tournament.
• The top eight qualify automatically for the knockouts.

The London club's hopes of qualifying automatically for the Champions League knockout stages were hit hard as Atalanta overturned a deficit to win in Bergamo.

Both sides entered this match with identical records in the initial stage of this season's tournament, 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 contest too, although Chelsea took the lead in the first half when Joao Pedro converted Reece James' cross.

But The Serie A side remained a threat going forwards, with former Premier League attacker Ademola Lookman issues for the defence.

Reece James shot wide in the after the break but Atalanta raised the pressure and justly levelled when ex-West Ham striker headed in a centering pass.

The winger drove a powerful shot straight at the goalkeeper but they got the decisive strike late on when the Chelsea defence retreated from Charles de Ketelaere, who seized the opportunity with a driven shot.

The visitors tried to rescue a point in stoppage time but a excellent stop by the Atalanta goalkeeper kept out Pedro.

The result means Chelsea fall out of the automatic qualification places—the spots that qualify automatically for the next round—to eleventh with two group stage fixtures left to play.

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

Chelsea Analysis - Concerning Run Persists

This was a hugely disappointing result for Chelsea as even a draw was keeping them in a strong position to secure the top eight position they require to bypass the lottery of the qualifying play-off round.

But they let their concentration slip in defence with seven minutes remaining and their opponents took full advantage.

The Italians are in good form at the moment so this was always going to be a difficult examination for the visitors, but they will be disappointed to be leaving with no points after taking the early advantage.

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

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

Excessive Changes Turning Out to Be Expensive?

Manager Enzo Maresca enacted five alterations for this match as he continued his run of rotating players in and out of the starting lineup.

The rotations here followed after he implemented the same number for the defeat to Leeds United and six for the tie with AFC Bournemouth prior to the trip to Bergamo.

Maresca will view rotation as essential as he attempts to manage players' workloads and challenge both at home and abroad, but he stated the central contingent of players remains the same for key fixtures.

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

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

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

Up Next for These Teams?

The Blues' next European fixture sees them welcome the Cypriot side on Wednesday, 21 January (8pm GMT).

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