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Key Moments

• The Chelsea forward hands Chelsea the lead in the opening period.
• The Italian outfit the better side after the interval and equalise through Gianluca Scamacca.
• Charles de Ketelaere nets a last-gasp decisive goal for the home side.
• The defeat means Chelsea fall to eleventh place in the group stage of the tournament.
• The leading eight teams qualify automatically for the knockout phase.

The London club's chances of securing a place automatically for the European Cup knockout stages were suffered a setback as their Italian opponents overturned a deficit to claim victory in Bergamo.

The two teams went into this fixture with matching points tallies in the league phase of this year's competition, having won, tied one, and lost to have accrued 10 points.

For much of the game there was not much to choose between them in this encounter too, even though Chelsea took the lead in the first half when the Brazilian turned in the captain's cross.

But Atalanta remained a danger going forward, with former Charlton and Everton attacker creating issues for the defence.

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

Alejandro Garnacho hammered a powerful shot straight at the goalkeeper but Atalanta secured the decisive strike late on when the Chelsea defenders backed off Charles de Ketelaere, who seized the opportunity with a powerful shot.

Chelsea tried to salvage a point in stoppage time but a brilliant stop by Marco Carnesecchi kept out Pedro.

The final score means Chelsea fall out of the top eight—the positions that qualify automatically for the knockouts—to 11th with two group stage games remaining.

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

Blues Breakdown - Concerning Run Persists

This was a hugely disappointing outcome for Chelsea as even a point was leaving them well placed to secure the top eight finish they require to bypass the lottery of the qualifying play-off round.

But they lacked concentration in defence with seven minutes left on the clock and their opponents capitalised completely.

The Italian side are in good form at the moment so this was always going to be a difficult test for the visitors, but they will be annoyed to be departing with no points after securing the early advantage.

But the bigger picture is that this extends Chelsea's worrying sequence of form in all tournaments.

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

Too Many Rotations Turning Out to Be Costly?

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

The rotations here came after he implemented the same number for the loss to Leeds United and six for the draw with AFC Bournemouth prior to the journey to Bergamo.

The coach will view rotation as necessary as he attempts to handle players' fitness and challenge both at home and in Europe, but he stated the key nucleus of players remains the unchanged for important fixtures.

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

"If you see the five alterations that we did relative to the previous game it may be different but it involves the eight or nine players playing in that match.

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

What's Next for These Clubs?

Chelsea's next Champions League game sees them welcome the Cypriot side on Wednesday, 21 January (8pm GMT).

Atalanta, on the other hand, are at home to Athletic Bilbao at the identical kick-off time.