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Match Summary

• The Chelsea forward hands Chelsea the advantage in the opening period.
• Atalanta the better side after the break and draw level through Gianluca Scamacca.
• Charles de Ketelaere grabs a late decisive goal for the hosts.
• The defeat means Chelsea drop to eleventh place in the group stage of the tournament.
• The leading eight teams qualify automatically for the knockout phase.

The London club's hopes of qualifying automatically for the European Cup knockout stages were suffered a setback as Atalanta came from behind to win in their home stadium.

Both sides went into this fixture with matching points tallies in the initial stage of this year's tournament, having won, tied one, and lost to be on ten points.

For much of the game there was not much to separate them in this contest too, although Chelsea got their noses in front in the opening 45 minutes when the Brazilian converted Reece James' delivery.

But The Serie A side remained a threat going forwards, with former Charlton and Everton attacker Ademola Lookman issues for the backline.

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

Alejandro Garnacho drove a powerful shot straight at the goalkeeper but they scored the decisive strike in the closing stages when the Chelsea defence backed off the midfielder, who took full advantage with a powerful finish.

Chelsea tried to rescue a point late on but a excellent save by Marco Carnesecchi kept out Pedro.

The final score means Chelsea fall out of the top eight—the positions that qualify automatically for the next round—to eleventh with two league phase fixtures left to play.

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

Blues Breakdown - Worrying Sequence Continues

This was a hugely disappointing result for Chelsea as even a point was keeping them well placed to achieve the top-eight finish they require to avoid the lottery of the play-offs.

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

The Italians are in fine fettle at the moment so this was always going to be a tough test for the Blues, but they will be frustrated to be departing with nothing after taking the early advantage.

But the wider issue is that this perpetuates Chelsea's troubling sequence of form in all tournaments.

Since defeating Barcelona 3-0 at the close 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 alterations for this match as he continued his policy of moving players in and out of the starting 11.

The changes here came after he made the identical amount for the loss to Leeds United and six for the tie with Bournemouth prior to the trip to Atalanta.

Maresca will view squad rotation as vital as he tries to manage players' workloads and challenge both at home and abroad, but he maintained the central contingent of players stays the same for important games.

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

"If you see the five alterations that we did relative to Bournemouth it is different but it involves the same eight or nine players playing in that match.

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

What's Next for These Teams?

Chelsea's next European fixture sees them host the Cypriot side on the coming Wednesday (20:00 GMT).

Atalanta, on the other hand, are at home to Athletic Club at the identical kick-off time.