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At a Glance

• Joao Pedro gives Chelsea the lead in the opening period.
• The Italian outfit the stronger side after the interval and draw level through Gianluca Scamacca.
• The Belgian attacker grabs a last-gasp winner for the hosts.
• The defeat means Chelsea slide to eleventh place in the league phase of the tournament.
• The top eight progress automatically for the knockouts.

Chelsea's hopes of qualifying automatically for the European Cup knockout stages were dealt a blow as their Italian opponents overturned a deficit to triumph in their home stadium.

Each club entered this fixture with identical records in the league phase of this year's competition, having secured three victories, tied one, and lost to be on ten points.

For large parts there was very little to separate them in this contest too, even though Chelsea took the lead in the opening 45 minutes when the Brazilian turned in Reece James' cross.

But The Serie A side always looked a threat going on the attack, with former Charlton and Everton attacker causing problems for the backline.

Reece James fired wide in the after the break but the home team upped the pressure and rightfully equalised when former West Ham United striker nodded home a centering pass.

The winger drove a strong effort straight at the keeper but Atalanta secured the winning goal late on when the Chelsea defence retreated from the midfielder, who made no mistake with a low shot.

The visitors tried to rescue a point late on but a excellent stop by Marco Carnesecchi kept out Pedro.

The final score means Chelsea drop out of the automatic qualification places—the spots that qualify automatically for the next round—to 11th with two group stage matches left to play.

The Bergamo club, in contrast, climb up to third, three points ahead of the Blues.

Chelsea Analysis - Concerning Sequence Persists

This was a deeply disappointing result for Chelsea as even a draw was keeping them in a strong position to secure the top-eight position they require to avoid the lottery of the play-offs.

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

The Italian side are in rich vein of form at the moment so this was always going to be a challenging test for the Blues, but they will be frustrated to be departing with nothing after securing the early advantage.

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

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

Too Many Rotations Turning Out to Be Expensive?

Manager Enzo Enzo Maresca made five rotations for this game as he persisted with his policy of rotating players in and out of the first team.

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

The coach will view squad rotation as vital as he tries to manage players' minutes and challenge both at domestically and in Europe, but he insisted the key nucleus of players remains the same for key fixtures.

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

"If you look at the five changes that we did relative to Bournemouth it may be different but it involves the same eight or nine players who played Barcelona.

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

Up Next for These Sides?

Chelsea's next Champions League game sees them welcome the Cypriot side on Wednesday, 21 January (20:00 GMT).

Atalanta, on the other hand, are at home to Athletic Bilbao at the same time.