🔗 Share this article

At a Glance

• Joao Pedro gives Chelsea the lead in the first half.
• The Italian outfit the better side after the break and draw level through Gianluca Scamacca.
• The Belgian attacker grabs a last-gasp winner for the home side.
• Loss means Chelsea fall to 11th in the group stage of the tournament.
• The top eight progress automatically for the knockout phase.

Chelsea's ambitions of qualifying automatically for the Champions League knockout stages were hit hard as their Italian opponents fought back to triumph in their home stadium.

Both sides went into this match with identical records in the league phase of this season's competition, having won, tied one, and lost to be on ten points.

For extended periods there was little to choose between them in this contest too, although Chelsea took the lead in the first half when the Brazilian converted the captain's cross.

But Atalanta consistently appeared a danger going on the attack, with former Premier League attacker causing problems for the backline.

Reece James fired wide in the after the break but the home team upped the pressure and deservedly levelled when former West Ham United striker nodded home a cross.

The winger drove a strong effort straight at the keeper but Atalanta secured the winning goal late on when the Blues defenders backed off Charles de Ketelaere, who seized the opportunity with a powerful shot.

Chelsea tried to salvage a draw late on but a brilliant stop by the Atalanta goalkeeper kept out Joao Pedro.

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

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

Chelsea Analysis - Concerning Run Continues

This was a extremely disappointing result for Chelsea as even a point was keeping them well placed to secure the top eight position they require to bypass the uncertainty of the play-offs.

But they lacked concentration in defence with seven minutes remaining and their opponents capitalised completely.

The Italians are in rich vein of form at the moment so this was always going to be a difficult examination for the visitors, but they will be disappointed to be departing with nothing after securing the lead.

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

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

Excessive Changes Turning Out to Be Costly?

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

The rotations here followed after he made the same number for the loss to Leeds and six for the tie with Bournemouth prior to the journey to Atalanta.

Maresca will see squad rotation as necessary as he tries to manage players' minutes and compete both at domestically and in Europe, but he stated the central contingent of players remains the same for key fixtures.

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

"If you see the five changes that we did compared to Bournemouth it may be different but it is the eight or nine players who played Barcelona.

"The players who took to the field this evening are the individuals who feature in almost all the games."

What Next for These Clubs?

Chelsea's next Champions League fixture sees them host Pafos on the coming Wednesday (20:00 GMT).

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