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At a Glance

• The Chelsea forward gives Chelsea the advantage in the opening period.
• Atalanta the better side after the interval and equalise through the striker.
• Charles de Ketelaere grabs a last-gasp decisive goal for the hosts.
• Loss means Chelsea fall to 11th in the league phase of the Champions League.
• The leading eight teams progress automatically for the knockouts.

Chelsea's chances of qualifying automatically for the Champions League knockout stages were dealt a blow as their Italian opponents fought back to claim victory in their home stadium.

Both sides went into this game with matching records in the league phase of this season's competition, having won, drawn, and suffered one defeat to have accrued ten points.

For large parts there was very little to distinguish them in this contest too, although Chelsea got their noses in front in the first half when the Brazilian converted Reece James' cross.

But The Serie A side always looked a danger going on the attack, with former Premier League attacker Ademola Lookman problems for the defence.

James fired wide in the after the break but Atalanta upped the pressure and justly levelled when former West Ham United striker nodded home a centering pass.

Alejandro Garnacho hammered a powerful shot straight at the keeper but Atalanta got the winner late on when the Chelsea defence backed off the midfielder, who seized the opportunity with a low strike.

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

The final score means Chelsea drop out of the top eight—the positions that qualify automatically for the knockouts—to eleventh with two group stage matches remaining.

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

Blues Breakdown - Concerning Form Persists

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

But they lost focus in their defensive duties with seven minutes remaining and their opponents seized the moment.

The Italians are in good form at the moment so this was always going to be a tough examination for the Blues, but they will be disappointed to be departing with no points after securing the lead.

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

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

Excessive Rotations Proving Costly?

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

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

The coach will see rotation as essential as he tries to manage players' minutes and challenge both at home and in Europe, but he stated the core group of players stays the unchanged for key fixtures.

"I think in this match [in] the starting lineup we had eight or nine players who featured against Tottenham Hotspur, FC Barcelona, and the Gunners," he stated.

"If you see the five alterations that we made relative to Bournemouth it is a change but it is the eight or nine players who played in that match.

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

What Next for These Teams?

The Blues' next European fixture sees them host the Cypriot side on the coming Wednesday (20:00 GMT).

The Italian team, meanwhile, host Athletic Bilbao at the identical kick-off time.