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At a Glance

• Joao Pedro gives Chelsea the lead in the first half.
• Atalanta the stronger side after the interval and draw level through Gianluca Scamacca.
• The Belgian attacker nets a last-gasp decisive goal for the home side.
• Loss means Chelsea drop to 11th in the league phase of the Champions League.
• The leading eight teams progress automatically for the last 16.

The London club's ambitions of qualifying automatically for the European Cup knockouts were hit hard as their Italian opponents fought back to triumph in Bergamo.

Both sides went into this game with the same records in the initial stage of this year's competition, having won, tied one, and suffered one defeat to sit on ten points.

For large parts there was not much to choose between them in this contest too, although Chelsea took the lead in the first half when Joao Pedro finished Reece James' cross.

But Atalanta remained a threat going on the attack, with former Premier League attacker creating issues for the backline.

James fired wide in the second half but Atalanta upped the intensity and rightfully equalised when ex-West Ham striker Gianluca Scamacca a cross.

Alejandro Garnacho hammered a powerful shot straight at the goalkeeper but Atalanta scored the winner late on when the Chelsea defenders retreated from Charles de Ketelaere, who made no mistake with a powerful shot.

The visitors tried to salvage a point in stoppage time but a brilliant save by the Atalanta goalkeeper denied Pedro.

The final score means Chelsea slip out of the top eight—the spots that qualify automatically for the knockouts—to eleventh with two league phase fixtures remaining.

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

Chelsea Analysis - Worrying Run Persists

This was a extremely disappointing outcome for Chelsea as even a point was leaving them well placed to achieve the top-eight position they need to bypass the uncertainty of the qualifying play-off round.

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

The Italian side are in good form at the moment so this was always going to be a tough examination for the visitors, but they will be frustrated to be departing with nothing after securing the lead.

But the wider issue is that this continues Chelsea's worrying streak of form in all tournaments.

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

Excessive Changes Turning Out to Be Costly?

Manager Enzo Maresca enacted five rotations for this game as he continued his run of moving players in and out of the first team.

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

The coach will see squad rotation as necessary as he tries to manage players' minutes and compete both at domestically and in Europe, but he insisted the central contingent of players stays the same for key games.

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

"If you see the five alterations that we did compared to Bournemouth it may be a change but it involves the eight or nine players who played Barcelona.

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

What's Next for These Teams?

Chelsea's next European game sees them host the Cypriot side on the coming Wednesday (8pm GMT).

The Italian team, meanwhile, are at home to Athletic Club at the same time.