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Match Summary

• The Chelsea forward hands Chelsea the lead in the first half.
• The Italian outfit the stronger side after the interval and equalise through the striker.
• Charles de Ketelaere scores a last-gasp winner for the hosts.
• Loss means Chelsea drop to 11th in the league phase of the tournament.
• The leading eight teams qualify automatically for the knockouts.

The London club's ambitions of securing a place automatically for the European Cup knockouts were hit hard as their Italian opponents overturned a deficit to claim victory in their home stadium.

Each club went into this fixture with identical points tallies in the initial stage of this year's competition, having won, tied one, and suffered one defeat to be on ten points.

For large parts there was very little to distinguish them in this contest too, although Chelsea got their noses in front in the first half when the Brazilian converted the captain's delivery.

But The Serie A side always looked a threat going forward, with former Charlton and Everton attacker Ademola Lookman problems for the defence.

James fired wide in the after the break but Atalanta raised the intensity and justly levelled when former West Ham United striker nodded home a cross.

The winger hammered a powerful shot straight at the goalkeeper but they got the decisive strike in the closing stages when the Chelsea defenders retreated from the midfielder, who took full advantage with a low shot.

The visitors tried to salvage a draw late on but a brilliant stop by the Atalanta goalkeeper denied Joao Pedro.

The result means Chelsea fall out of the automatic qualification places—the positions that progress automatically for the next round—to 11th with two group stage games remaining.

The Bergamo club, in contrast, leap up to third place, three points clear of the Blues.

Chelsea Analysis - Worrying Sequence Continues

This was a deeply frustrating outcome for Chelsea as even a point was keeping them in a strong position to secure the top eight position they need to bypass the lottery of the play-offs.

But they lacked concentration in defence with seven minutes remaining and Atalanta capitalised completely.

The Italian side are in rich vein of form at the moment so this was always going to be a difficult test for the Blues, but they will be frustrated to be departing with no points after securing the early advantage.

But the broader context is that this perpetuates Chelsea's concerning sequence of form in all tournaments.

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

Excessive Changes Turning Out to Be Costly?

Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca made five changes for this game as he continued his run of rotating players in and out of the first team.

The rotations here followed after he made the same number for the defeat to Leeds and six for the tie with Bournemouth prior to the trip to Bergamo.

The coach will see rotation as essential as he attempts to handle players' workloads and challenge both at domestically and in Europe, but he stated the key nucleus of players stays the unchanged for key fixtures.

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

"If you see the five changes that we made compared to the previous game it is a change but it involves the eight or nine players playing in that match.

"The players who played tonight are the individuals who feature in almost all the games."

What's Next for These Sides?

The Blues' next Champions League fixture sees them welcome Pafos on the coming Wednesday (8pm GMT).

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