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At a Glance

• Joao Pedro hands Chelsea the lead in the first half.
• The Italian outfit the stronger side after the interval and equalise through Gianluca Scamacca.
• The Belgian attacker scores a late winner for the home side.
• The defeat means Chelsea slide to eleventh place in the league phase of the Champions League.
• The leading eight teams qualify automatically for the knockout phase.

The London club's chances of qualifying automatically for the European Cup knockout stages were suffered a setback as their Italian opponents came from behind to triumph in Bergamo.

The two teams entered this match with identical records in the initial stage of this year's tournament, having won, tied one, and suffered one defeat to sit on 10 points.

For much of the game there was not much to choose between them in this encounter too, although Chelsea took the lead in the opening 45 minutes when the Brazilian converted the captain's cross.

But The Serie A side always looked a danger going on the attack, with former Charlton and Everton attacker creating issues for the defence.

Reece James fired wide in the after the break but Atalanta increased the intensity and rightfully equalised when ex-West Ham striker nodded home a cross.

The winger hammered a strong effort straight at the keeper but they got the decisive strike in the closing stages when the Chelsea defenders backed off the midfielder, who took full advantage with a low finish.

The visitors tried to salvage a point late on but a superb stop by the Atalanta goalkeeper kept out Joao Pedro.

The result means Chelsea fall out of the top eight—the spots that progress automatically for the knockouts—to 11th with two group stage games remaining.

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

Blues Breakdown - Worrying Form Continues

This was a extremely disappointing result for Chelsea as even a draw was keeping them well placed to secure the top eight finish they require to bypass the uncertainty of the qualifying play-off round.

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 tough examination for the Blues, but they will be disappointed to be leaving with nothing after taking the lead.

But the broader context is that this perpetuates Chelsea's troubling run of form in all competitions.

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

Too Many Rotations Turning Out to Be Expensive?

Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca enacted five changes for this match as he continued his strategy of moving players in and out of the starting lineup.

The changes here came after he implemented the identical amount for the defeat to Leeds United and six for the tie with Bournemouth prior to the trip to Bergamo.

The coach will see rotation as necessary as he attempts to manage players' minutes and compete both at home and in Europe, but he insisted the central contingent of players remains the same for important fixtures.

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

"If you see the five changes that we did relative to the previous game it may be a change but it involves the eight or nine players playing Barcelona.

"The ones who took to the field tonight are the individuals playing almost all the games."

What Next for These Teams?

The Blues' next Champions League fixture sees them welcome the Cypriot side on Wednesday, 21 January (20:00 GMT).

The Italian team, on the other hand, host Athletic Bilbao at the same time.