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Match Summary

• The Chelsea forward gives Chelsea the advantage in the opening period.
• Atalanta the better side after the interval and draw level through the striker.
• The Belgian attacker grabs a last-gasp decisive goal for the home side.
• Loss means Chelsea fall to 11th in the group stage of the Champions League.
• The leading eight teams qualify automatically for the knockout phase.

The London club's hopes of qualifying automatically for the European Cup knockouts were suffered a setback as their Italian opponents overturned a deficit to claim victory in Bergamo.

The two teams entered this fixture with the same records in the league phase of this season's competition, having secured three victories, drawn, and suffered one defeat to sit on 10 points.

For extended periods there was little to separate them in this contest too, even though Chelsea took the lead in the first half when Joao Pedro converted the captain's cross.

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

Reece James fired wide in the second half but the home team increased the pressure and justly equalised when ex-West Ham striker nodded home a cross.

Alejandro Garnacho drove a strong effort straight at the keeper but they scored the decisive strike in the closing stages when the Blues defence backed off the midfielder, who made no mistake with a driven finish.

The visitors tried to rescue a point in stoppage time but a superb save by the Atalanta goalkeeper kept out Joao Pedro.

The final score means Chelsea fall out of the automatic qualification places—the spots that qualify automatically for the next round—to 11th with two league phase games left to play.

The Bergamo club, meanwhile, leap up to third, three points ahead of the Londoners.

Chelsea Analysis - Concerning Form Persists

This was a hugely frustrating outcome for Chelsea as even a point was keeping them well placed to achieve the top-eight position they require to bypass the lottery of the play-offs.

But they lost focus in defence with seven minutes left on the clock and Atalanta seized the moment.

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

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

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

Excessive Rotations Proving Expensive?

Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca made five rotations for this match as he continued his run of moving players in and out of the first team.

The changes here followed after he implemented the same number for the loss to Leeds and six for the tie with AFC Bournemouth prior to the journey to Bergamo.

The coach will see squad rotation as essential as he attempts to manage players' minutes and compete both at home and in Europe, but he stated the central contingent of players stays the unchanged for crucial fixtures.

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

"If you see the five alterations that we did relative to the previous game it may be different but it involves the same eight or nine players who played Barcelona.

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

What Next for These Teams?

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

The Italian team, on the other hand, are at home to Athletic Club at the same time.