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Key Moments

• Joao Pedro gives Chelsea the advantage in the first half.
• The Italian outfit the stronger side after the break and draw level through the striker.
• The Belgian attacker nets a late decisive goal for the home side.
• Loss means Chelsea drop to 11th in the league phase of the tournament.
• The top eight progress automatically for the knockout phase.

The London club's ambitions of securing a place automatically for the European Cup knockouts were suffered a setback as their Italian opponents came from behind to claim victory in their home stadium.

Each club entered this match with matching records in the initial stage of this season's competition, having secured three victories, tied one, and suffered one defeat to be on ten points.

For large parts there was little to distinguish them in this contest too, even though Chelsea took the lead in the opening 45 minutes when Joao Pedro turned in Reece James' delivery.

But Atalanta remained a threat going on the attack, with ex- Premier League attacker causing issues for the defence.

Reece James fired wide in the after the break but the home team increased the intensity and deservedly drew level when ex-West Ham striker nodded home a centering pass.

The winger drove a strong effort straight at the keeper but Atalanta scored the decisive strike in the closing stages when the Blues defenders backed off the midfielder, who seized the opportunity with a powerful finish.

The visitors tried to rescue a point in stoppage time but a superb stop by Marco Carnesecchi denied Joao Pedro.

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

Atalanta, in contrast, climb up to third place, three points ahead of the Blues.

Blues Breakdown - Worrying Form Continues

This was a deeply frustrating outcome for Chelsea as even a point was keeping them in a strong position to achieve the top-eight position they require to bypass the lottery of the qualifying play-off round.

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

The Italians are in rich vein of form at the moment so this was always going to be a challenging examination for the visitors, but they will be disappointed to be departing with no points after securing the lead.

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

Since beating the Spanish giants 3-0 at the end of November they are now winless in their last four games.

Excessive Changes Proving Expensive?

Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca enacted five rotations for this game as he continued his strategy of moving players in and out of the starting 11.

The changes here followed after he implemented the identical amount for the defeat to Leeds and six for the draw with Bournemouth prior to the journey to Bergamo.

The coach will view squad rotation as essential as he attempts to handle players' fitness and compete both at domestically and in Europe, but he maintained the central contingent of players stays the same for important games.

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

"If you see the five changes that we did relative to the previous game it may be a change but it involves the same eight or nine players playing 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 fixture sees them welcome 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.