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At a Glance

• The Chelsea forward hands Chelsea the advantage in the opening period.
• Atalanta the stronger side after the interval and equalise through the striker.
• The Belgian attacker scores a late winner for the home side.
• The defeat means Chelsea slide to eleventh place in the group stage of the Champions League.
• The leading eight teams qualify automatically for the knockouts.

The London club's hopes of securing a place automatically for the Champions League knockouts were dealt a blow as their Italian opponents came from behind to win in Bergamo.

Both sides entered this fixture with identical records in the league phase of this season's competition, having won, tied one, and suffered one defeat to sit on ten points.

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

But The Serie A side remained a threat going forwards, with ex- Premier League attacker Ademola Lookman problems for the backline.

Reece James shot wide in the second half but the home team raised the intensity and justly levelled when ex-West Ham striker Gianluca Scamacca a cross.

Alejandro Garnacho drove a strong effort straight at the goalkeeper but Atalanta scored the decisive strike late on when the Blues defence backed off the midfielder, who made no mistake with a low finish.

The visitors tried to salvage a point late on but a brilliant stop by the Atalanta goalkeeper kept out Joao Pedro.

The result means Chelsea fall out of the automatic qualification places—the spots that qualify automatically for the knockouts—to 11th with two group stage matches left to play.

The Bergamo club, meanwhile, climb up to third, three points ahead of the Blues.

Blues Breakdown - Worrying Run Continues

This was a hugely disappointing result for Chelsea as even a draw was keeping them in a strong position to secure the top eight position they require to bypass the lottery of the qualifying play-off round.

But they lost focus in their defensive duties with seven minutes left on the clock and Atalanta capitalised completely.

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

But the broader context is that this perpetuates Chelsea's worrying run of results in all tournaments.

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

Excessive Rotations Turning Out to Be Expensive?

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

The changes here followed after he implemented the identical amount for the defeat to Leeds and six for the tie with AFC Bournemouth prior to the trip to Atalanta.

Maresca will view rotation as necessary as he tries to manage players' fitness and challenge both at home and in Europe, but he maintained the core group of players remains the same for key games.

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

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

"The ones who took to the field tonight are the ones who feature in almost all the games."

What Next for These Teams?

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

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