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At a Glance

• The Chelsea forward gives Chelsea the lead in the opening period.
• Atalanta the better side after the interval and equalise through the striker.
• Charles de Ketelaere nets a last-gasp winner for the home side.
• The defeat means Chelsea drop to eleventh place in the league phase of the tournament.
• The top eight progress automatically for the knockouts.

The London club's hopes of securing a place automatically for the European Cup knockouts were hit hard as their Italian opponents came from behind to triumph in their home stadium.

Both sides entered this match with matching records in the initial stage of this season's tournament, having won, drawn, and suffered one defeat to sit on 10 points.

For extended periods there was little to separate them in this encounter too, even though Chelsea got their noses in front in the opening 45 minutes when Joao Pedro turned in the captain's delivery.

But The Serie A side always looked a danger going forwards, with ex- Premier League attacker creating issues for the defence.

James shot wide in the second half but Atalanta raised the pressure and deservedly equalised when former West Ham United striker Gianluca Scamacca a centering pass.

Alejandro Garnacho hammered a strong effort straight at the keeper but they got the decisive strike late on when the Chelsea defence backed off the midfielder, who made no mistake with a driven shot.

Chelsea attempted to rescue a point in stoppage time but a superb stop by the Atalanta goalkeeper kept out Joao Pedro.

The outcome means Chelsea fall out of the top eight—the positions that progress automatically for the knockouts—to eleventh with two league phase matches left to play.

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

Blues Breakdown - Worrying Sequence Persists

This was a extremely disappointing outcome for Chelsea as even a draw was leaving 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 let their concentration slip in their defensive duties with seven minutes remaining and their opponents took full advantage.

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

But the bigger picture is that this perpetuates Chelsea's concerning streak of results in all tournaments.

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

Excessive Rotations 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 starting 11.

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

The coach will see rotation as necessary as he attempts to handle players' fitness and challenge both at home and in Europe, but he insisted the central contingent of players stays the same for crucial fixtures.

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

"If you look at the five changes that we made compared to the previous game it is different but it involves the eight or nine players playing Barcelona.

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

What Next for These Sides?

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

Atalanta, on the other hand, are at home to Athletic Bilbao at the identical kick-off time.