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Key Moments

• Joao Pedro gives Chelsea the advantage in the first half.
• The Italian outfit the better side after the break and draw level through the striker.
• The Belgian attacker grabs a late winner 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 last 16.

The London club's chances of qualifying automatically for the European Cup knockout stages were suffered a setback as Atalanta came from behind to claim victory in Bergamo.

Each club went into this fixture with the same points tallies in the league phase of this year's tournament, having won, tied one, and lost to have accrued ten points.

For extended periods there was very little to choose between them in this encounter too, even though Chelsea went ahead in the first half when the Brazilian finished Reece James' delivery.

But Atalanta consistently appeared a threat going forward, with former Charlton and Everton attacker creating issues for the backline.

James fired wide in the after the break but Atalanta raised the intensity and rightfully equalised when ex-West Ham striker headed in a centering pass.

The winger hammered a strong effort straight at the keeper but Atalanta got the decisive strike late on when the Chelsea defence backed off the midfielder, who seized the opportunity with a powerful shot.

Chelsea attempted to rescue a point late on but a excellent save by the Atalanta goalkeeper denied Pedro.

The final score means Chelsea drop out of the top eight—the positions that progress automatically for the knockouts—to eleventh with two group stage games left to play.

The Bergamo club, meanwhile, climb up to third place, three points clear of the Blues.

Blues Breakdown - Concerning Run Continues

This was a deeply frustrating result for Chelsea as even a point was leaving them in a strong position to secure the top-eight position they require to bypass the lottery of the qualifying play-off round.

But they let their concentration slip in their defensive duties with seven minutes left on the clock and their opponents seized the moment.

The Italians are in good form at the moment so this was always going to be a difficult test for the visitors, but they will be disappointed to be leaving with nothing after securing the early advantage.

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

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

Excessive Changes Turning Out to Be Costly?

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

The changes here came after he made the identical amount for the loss to Leeds and six for the tie with Bournemouth prior to the journey to Bergamo.

Maresca will view squad rotation as vital as he tries to manage players' fitness 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 first XI we had eight or nine players who played against Tottenham, FC Barcelona, and the Gunners," he stated.

"If you see the five alterations that we made relative to the previous game it is different but it involves the same eight or nine players who played in that match.

"The ones who played tonight are the individuals playing almost all the games."

What Next for These Clubs?

The Blues' next European game sees them welcome the Cypriot side on the coming Wednesday (8pm GMT).

Atalanta, meanwhile, host Athletic Club at the identical kick-off time.