🔗 Share this article

At a Glance

• Joao Pedro gives Chelsea the advantage in the opening period.
• The Italian outfit the stronger side after the interval and equalise through the striker.
• Charles de Ketelaere nets a late winner for the home side.
• The defeat means Chelsea slide to eleventh place in the group stage of the tournament.
• The top eight progress automatically for the knockout phase.

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

Each club went into this game with matching records in the league phase of this season's tournament, having won, drawn, and lost to have accrued 10 points.

For extended periods there was very little to choose between them in this encounter too, even though Chelsea went ahead in the opening 45 minutes when Joao Pedro converted the captain's delivery.

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

Reece James fired wide in the second half but Atalanta increased the intensity and deservedly equalised when former West Ham United striker headed in a centering pass.

Alejandro Garnacho drove a powerful shot straight at the goalkeeper but Atalanta secured the winning goal late on when the Chelsea defence backed off the midfielder, who took full advantage with a low shot.

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

The result means Chelsea fall out of the top eight—the spots that progress automatically for the knockouts—to eleventh with two league phase games remaining.

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

Blues Breakdown - Concerning Run Continues

This was a extremely frustrating result for Chelsea as even a point was leaving 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 let their concentration slip in their defensive duties with seven minutes remaining and Atalanta capitalised completely.

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

But the wider issue is that this continues Chelsea's troubling run of results 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 Changes Proving Costly?

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

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

Maresca will see squad rotation as necessary as he tries to handle players' minutes and compete both at domestically and abroad, but he maintained the key nucleus of players remains the same for key games.

"I think tonight [in] the first XI we had eight or nine players who featured against Tottenham, FC Barcelona, and the Gunners," he commented.

"If you look at the five changes that we made compared to the previous game it may be a change but it involves the eight or nine players who played Barcelona.

"The players who took to the field tonight are the individuals playing almost all the matches."

Up Next for These Clubs?

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

The Italian team, meanwhile, host Athletic Bilbao at the identical kick-off time.