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At a Glance

• The Chelsea forward hands Chelsea the lead in the opening period.
• Atalanta the stronger side after the interval and draw level through Gianluca Scamacca.
• Charles de Ketelaere scores a last-gasp winner for the home side.
• The defeat means Chelsea fall to 11th in the group stage of the tournament.
• The top eight progress automatically for the knockouts.

The London club's ambitions of securing a place automatically for the European Cup knockouts were suffered a setback as Atalanta came from behind to triumph in their home stadium.

Both sides entered this game with the same points tallies in the league phase of this year's competition, having secured three victories, tied one, and lost to sit on 10 points.

For much of the game there was not much to distinguish them in this contest too, even though Chelsea took the lead in the opening 45 minutes when Joao Pedro converted Reece James' cross.

But The Serie A side consistently appeared a danger going on the attack, with ex- Charlton and Everton attacker causing problems for the defence.

Reece James shot wide in the second half but the home team raised the pressure and rightfully drew level when former West Ham United striker nodded home a centering pass.

The winger hammered a powerful shot straight at the keeper but Atalanta got the decisive strike late on when the Chelsea defence backed off the midfielder, who seized the opportunity with a powerful strike.

Chelsea tried to rescue a point late on but a superb save by the Atalanta goalkeeper kept out Pedro.

The final score means Chelsea fall out of the automatic qualification places—the positions that progress automatically for the next round—to eleventh with two league phase fixtures left to play.

The Bergamo club, meanwhile, jump up to third, three points ahead of the Londoners.

Blues Breakdown - Worrying Sequence Continues

This was a deeply frustrating result for Chelsea as even a point was keeping them in a strong position to secure the top eight position they need to bypass the lottery of the qualifying play-off round.

But they let their concentration slip in defence with seven minutes left on the clock and Atalanta seized the moment.

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

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

Since defeating the Spanish giants 3-0 at the close of November they are now winless in their last four outings.

Too Many Rotations Proving Expensive?

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

The rotations here came after he implemented the same number for the defeat to Leeds United and six for the draw with Bournemouth prior to the journey to Atalanta.

The coach will view squad rotation as essential as he attempts to handle players' fitness and compete both at domestically and in Europe, but he stated the central contingent of players remains the unchanged for crucial games.

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

"If you look at the five changes that we did compared to the previous game it is a change but it involves the same eight or nine players playing in that match.

"The ones who played this evening are the individuals who feature in almost all the matches."

Up Next for These Clubs?

The Blues' next Champions League game sees them welcome the Cypriot side on Wednesday, 21 January (8pm GMT).

Atalanta, meanwhile, are at home to Athletic Bilbao at the identical kick-off time.