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At a Glance

• The Chelsea forward gives Chelsea the lead in the opening period.
• The Italian outfit the better side after the break and equalise through the striker.
• The Belgian attacker scores a late decisive goal for the home side.
• The defeat means Chelsea drop to 11th in the group stage of the tournament.
• The leading eight teams qualify automatically for the knockouts.

Chelsea's ambitions of qualifying automatically for the Champions League knockouts were suffered a setback as Atalanta overturned a deficit to triumph in Bergamo.

The two teams entered this match with identical records in the initial stage of this year's tournament, having secured three victories, drawn, and lost to be on ten points.

For large parts there was not much to choose between them in this encounter too, although Chelsea got their noses in front in the opening 45 minutes when Joao Pedro converted Reece James' delivery.

But Atalanta remained a danger going on the attack, with ex- Premier League attacker Ademola Lookman problems for the defence.

James shot wide in the after the break but Atalanta raised the pressure and rightfully levelled when ex-West Ham striker headed in a centering pass.

The winger hammered a powerful shot straight at the goalkeeper but Atalanta secured the winner late on when the Chelsea defenders retreated from the midfielder, who seized the opportunity with a powerful shot.

The visitors attempted to rescue a point late on but a excellent stop by Marco Carnesecchi kept out Joao Pedro.

The outcome means Chelsea slip out of the automatic qualification places—the positions that qualify automatically for the next round—to 11th with two league phase fixtures left to play.

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

Blues Breakdown - Worrying Run Continues

This was a hugely disappointing result for Chelsea as even a point was keeping them in a strong position to achieve the top-eight position they need to bypass the uncertainty of the qualifying play-off round.

But they lacked concentration in defence with seven minutes remaining and Atalanta seized the moment.

The Italian side are in good form at the moment so this was always going to be a difficult examination for the Blues, but they will be frustrated to be departing with no points after taking the lead.

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

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

Too Many Changes Turning Out to Be Expensive?

Chelsea boss Maresca made five rotations for this game as he persisted with his run of rotating players in and out of the starting 11.

The rotations here came after he made the identical amount for the defeat to Leeds United and six for the draw with AFC Bournemouth prior to the journey to Atalanta.

The coach will see rotation as necessary as he tries to handle players' minutes and compete both at domestically and abroad, but he maintained the central contingent of players remains the unchanged for key games.

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

"If you see the five alterations that we made compared to the previous game it may be different but it is the eight or nine players playing Barcelona.

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

What Next for These Sides?

Chelsea's next European fixture sees them host Pafos on the coming Wednesday (8pm GMT).

Atalanta, meanwhile, host Athletic Bilbao at the same time.