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At a Glance

• The Chelsea forward gives Chelsea the advantage in the opening period.
• The Italian outfit the stronger side after the interval and equalise through Gianluca Scamacca.
• Charles de Ketelaere nets a late decisive goal for the home side.
• Loss means Chelsea drop to 11th in the group stage of the Champions League.
• The leading eight teams progress automatically for the knockouts.

The London club's hopes of securing a place automatically for the European Cup knockout stages were hit hard as their Italian opponents overturned a deficit to win in Bergamo.

The two teams entered this game with the same records in the league phase of this season's competition, having won, drawn, and suffered one defeat to be on 10 points.

For extended periods there was little to choose between them in this encounter too, even though Chelsea got their noses in front in the opening 45 minutes when the Brazilian turned in Reece James' delivery.

But Atalanta remained a danger going forwards, with former Charlton and Everton attacker causing issues for the defence.

James fired wide in the after the break but Atalanta upped the intensity and justly drew level when former West Ham United striker headed in a centering pass.

The winger drove a strong effort straight at the keeper but Atalanta secured the winning goal in the closing stages when the Blues defence backed off Charles de Ketelaere, who took full advantage with a driven finish.

The visitors tried to salvage a point late on but a superb save by Marco Carnesecchi kept out Joao Pedro.

The outcome means Chelsea drop out of the automatic qualification places—the spots that progress automatically for the knockouts—to 11th with two league phase games remaining.

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

Blues Breakdown - Concerning Sequence Continues

This was a extremely disappointing outcome for Chelsea as even a point was keeping them in a strong position to secure the top eight position they need to avoid the uncertainty of the qualifying play-off round.

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

The Italians are in good form at the moment so this was always going to be a challenging test for the visitors, but they will be disappointed to be departing with no points after securing the early advantage.

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

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

Too Many Rotations Proving Expensive?

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

The rotations here came after he made the identical amount for the defeat to Leeds United and six for the tie with AFC Bournemouth prior to the trip to Bergamo.

Maresca will view squad rotation as essential as he tries to handle players' workloads and challenge both at home and abroad, but he stated the core group of players remains the same for crucial games.

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

"If you look at the five alterations that we made relative to Bournemouth it is different but it involves the eight or nine players who played in that match.

"The ones who took to the field this evening are the individuals playing almost all the games."

What's Next for These Sides?

The Blues' next European game sees them welcome the Cypriot side on the coming Wednesday (20:00 GMT).

Atalanta, meanwhile, are at home to Athletic Bilbao at the same time.