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Key Moments

• Joao Pedro gives Chelsea the advantage in the opening period.
• Atalanta the stronger side after the interval and draw level through the striker.
• Charles de Ketelaere scores a late decisive goal for the home side.
• The defeat means Chelsea fall to 11th in the group stage of the tournament.
• The top eight qualify automatically for the knockout phase.

The London club's chances of securing a place automatically for the Champions League knockout stages were suffered a setback as Atalanta came from behind to triumph in their home stadium.

Each club went into this fixture with identical points tallies in the initial stage of this year's tournament, having secured three victories, drawn, and lost to be on 10 points.

For large parts there was not much to distinguish them in this encounter too, although Chelsea went ahead in the first half when Joao Pedro converted the captain's delivery.

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

Reece James shot wide in the after the break but the home team raised the pressure and justly drew level when ex-West Ham striker headed in a cross.

The winger hammered a strong effort straight at the keeper but Atalanta got the winning goal late on when the Blues defence backed off the midfielder, who took full advantage with a driven strike.

The visitors tried to rescue a draw late on but a brilliant stop by the Atalanta goalkeeper kept out Joao Pedro.

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

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

Blues Breakdown - Worrying Run Continues

This was a deeply frustrating result for Chelsea as even a draw was leaving them well placed to achieve the top eight finish they require to bypass the lottery of the qualifying play-off round.

But they lacked concentration in their defensive duties with seven minutes remaining and Atalanta capitalised completely.

The Italians are in good form at the moment so this was always going to be a challenging examination for the visitors, but they will be frustrated to be leaving with no points after taking the early advantage.

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

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

Too Many Changes Turning Out to Be Costly?

Chelsea boss Maresca made five rotations for this match as he persisted with his policy of rotating players in and out of the first team.

The changes here followed after he implemented the same number for the defeat to Leeds United and six for the tie with Bournemouth prior to the trip to Atalanta.

The coach will view rotation as essential as he tries to handle players' workloads and compete both at domestically and in Europe, but he stated the key nucleus of players remains the same for crucial games.

"I believe in this match [in] the first XI we had eight or nine players who featured against Tottenham Hotspur, Barcelona, and Arsenal," he said.

"If you look at the five changes that we made compared to Bournemouth it is a change but it is the eight or nine players playing in that match.

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

What's Next for These Teams?

Chelsea's next European fixture sees them host Pafos on the coming Wednesday (8pm GMT).

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