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Key Moments

• Joao Pedro gives Chelsea the advantage in the opening period.
• Atalanta the stronger side after the interval and draw level through Gianluca Scamacca.
• Charles de Ketelaere grabs a last-gasp decisive goal for the home side.
• The defeat means Chelsea drop to eleventh place in the group stage of the tournament.
• The leading eight teams progress automatically for the knockout phase.

Chelsea's ambitions 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.

The two teams entered this match with the same points tallies in the league phase of this year's competition, having won, tied one, and suffered one defeat to be on 10 points.

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

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

James fired wide in the second half but Atalanta raised the intensity and deservedly drew level when former West Ham United striker Gianluca Scamacca a cross.

The winger drove a powerful shot straight at the goalkeeper but Atalanta scored the winning goal late on when the Chelsea defence retreated from Charles de Ketelaere, who seized the opportunity with a driven finish.

The visitors attempted to salvage a draw in stoppage time but a superb stop by Marco Carnesecchi kept out Joao Pedro.

The result means Chelsea fall out of the top eight—the spots that qualify automatically for the next round—to 11th with two league phase games left to play.

Atalanta, in contrast, jump up to third, three points clear of the Londoners.

Chelsea Analysis - Concerning Sequence Continues

This was a extremely frustrating outcome for Chelsea as even a point was leaving them in a strong position to achieve the top eight finish they require to avoid the uncertainty of the qualifying play-off round.

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

The Italian side are in fine fettle at the moment so this was always going to be a challenging examination for the Blues, but they will be annoyed to be leaving with no points after securing the early advantage.

But the bigger picture is that this extends Chelsea's concerning sequence of results in all competitions.

Since beating Barcelona 3-0 at the end of November they are now without a win in their last four outings.

Too Many Changes Proving Costly?

Chelsea boss Maresca enacted five changes for this match as he persisted with his run of moving players in and out of the starting lineup.

The rotations here followed after he implemented the identical amount for the loss to Leeds United and six for the draw with AFC Bournemouth prior to the journey to Bergamo.

The coach will see rotation as vital as he tries to manage players' fitness and challenge both at domestically and abroad, but he maintained the central contingent of players stays the same for important fixtures.

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

"If you look at the five alterations that we did compared to Bournemouth it is a change but it involves the same eight or nine players who played in that match.

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

What's Next for These Clubs?

Chelsea's next European fixture sees them host the Cypriot side on the coming Wednesday (8pm GMT).

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