🔗 Share this article

At a Glance

• Joao Pedro hands Chelsea the advantage in the opening period.
• Atalanta the better side after the interval and equalise through Gianluca Scamacca.
• The Belgian attacker scores a late winner for the hosts.
• Loss means Chelsea slide to eleventh place in the group stage of the Champions League.
• The top eight progress automatically for the knockout phase.

The London club's hopes of securing a place automatically for the European Cup knockout stages were suffered a setback as Atalanta came from behind to claim victory in their home stadium.

Each club went into this fixture with the same records in the league phase of this year's competition, having secured three victories, tied one, and suffered one defeat to be on 10 points.

For extended periods there was very little to distinguish them in this contest too, even though Chelsea went ahead in the opening 45 minutes when the Brazilian finished Reece James' cross.

But Atalanta consistently appeared a danger going forward, with former Charlton and Everton attacker causing problems for the defence.

James fired wide in the second half but the home team raised the intensity and deservedly drew level when ex-West Ham striker Gianluca Scamacca a cross.

Alejandro Garnacho drove a strong effort straight at the goalkeeper but Atalanta scored the decisive strike late on when the Blues defence backed off Charles de Ketelaere, who seized the opportunity with a driven shot.

Chelsea tried to rescue a draw late on but a brilliant save by Marco Carnesecchi denied Pedro.

The outcome means Chelsea drop out of the automatic qualification places—the positions that qualify automatically for the knockouts—to 11th with two league phase games left to play.

Atalanta, in contrast, jump up to third, three points ahead of the Blues.

Blues Breakdown - Worrying Run Continues

This was a hugely frustrating outcome for Chelsea as even a draw was leaving them in a strong position to secure the top-eight position they need to bypass the uncertainty of the play-offs.

But they lacked concentration in defence with seven minutes left on the clock and Atalanta took full advantage.

The Italian side are in rich vein of form at the moment so this was always going to be a difficult examination for the visitors, but they will be annoyed to be departing with no points after securing the lead.

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

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

Too Many Rotations Turning Out to Be Costly?

Manager Enzo Maresca made five rotations for this game as he persisted with his strategy of moving players in and out of the starting 11.

The changes here followed after he made the same number for the loss to Leeds United and six for the draw with Bournemouth prior to the trip to Atalanta.

Maresca will see rotation as essential as he attempts to handle players' workloads and compete both at domestically and abroad, but he stated the central contingent of players remains the unchanged for key fixtures.

"I think in this match [in] the first XI we had eight or nine players who featured against Tottenham Hotspur, Barcelona, and the Gunners," he commented.

"If you see the five alterations that we made compared to the previous game it may be a change but it is the same eight or nine players who played Barcelona.

"The players who played this evening are the individuals who feature in almost all the games."

Up Next for These Clubs?

Chelsea's next European fixture 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 identical kick-off time.