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At a Glance

• The Chelsea forward gives Chelsea the lead in the opening period.
• The Italian outfit the better side after the interval and equalise through the striker.
• Charles de Ketelaere grabs a last-gasp winner for the home side.
• Loss means Chelsea drop to 11th in the league phase of the Champions League.
• The top eight progress automatically for the last 16.

Chelsea's ambitions of securing a place automatically for the Champions League knockouts were dealt a blow as their Italian opponents overturned a deficit to triumph in Bergamo.

Both sides entered this game with matching records in the initial stage of this year's competition, having won, tied one, and lost to have accrued ten points.

For much of the game there was very little to choose between them in this encounter too, even though Chelsea went ahead in the first half when the Brazilian finished the captain's cross.

But The Serie A side consistently appeared a danger going forwards, with ex- Premier League attacker Ademola Lookman issues for the defence.

Reece James shot wide in the after the break but the home team upped the intensity and justly equalised when ex-West Ham striker Gianluca Scamacca a cross.

The winger hammered a powerful shot straight at the goalkeeper but they scored the winner in the closing stages when the Chelsea defence backed off the midfielder, who seized the opportunity with a low finish.

Chelsea tried to rescue a point in stoppage time but a superb stop by the Atalanta goalkeeper denied Pedro.

The final score means Chelsea slip out of the automatic qualification places—the positions that progress automatically for the knockouts—to eleventh with two group stage games remaining.

Atalanta, meanwhile, climb up to third, three points clear of the Blues.

Chelsea Analysis - Worrying Form Persists

This was a deeply frustrating result for Chelsea as even a point was leaving them in a strong position to secure the top-eight position they need to avoid the lottery of the qualifying play-off round.

But they lacked concentration in their defensive duties with seven minutes remaining and their opponents took full advantage.

The Italians are in good form at the moment so this was always going to be a challenging examination for the Blues, but they will be disappointed to be departing with nothing after taking the lead.

But the wider issue is that this perpetuates Chelsea's worrying run of results in all competitions.

Since defeating the Spanish giants 3-0 at the close of November they are now without a win in their last four games.

Too Many Changes Turning Out to Be Costly?

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

The changes here followed after he implemented the same number for the defeat to Leeds and six for the draw with AFC Bournemouth prior to the trip to Bergamo.

The coach will view rotation as vital as he tries to handle players' workloads and challenge both at domestically and abroad, but he stated the core group of players stays the same for important games.

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

"If you look at the five changes that we did compared to the previous game it may be a change but it is the same eight or nine players playing in that match.

"The players who took to the field tonight are the individuals playing almost all the games."

What's Next for These Teams?

Chelsea's next European fixture sees them host Pafos on Wednesday, 21 January (8pm GMT).

The Italian team, meanwhile, host Athletic Bilbao at the same time.