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At a Glance

• Joao Pedro hands Chelsea the lead in the opening period.
• The Italian outfit the better side after the interval and draw level through the striker.
• Charles de Ketelaere scores a last-gasp winner for the home side.
• Loss means Chelsea fall to 11th in the group stage of the tournament.
• The top eight qualify automatically for the last 16.

Chelsea's ambitions of securing a place automatically for the Champions League knockout stages were hit hard as Atalanta overturned a deficit to win in their home stadium.

Each club went into this fixture with the same records in the initial stage of this season's tournament, having secured three victories, tied one, and lost to sit on ten points.

For much of the game there was very little to distinguish them in this encounter too, even though Chelsea took the lead in the opening 45 minutes when the Brazilian finished Reece James' delivery.

But Atalanta consistently appeared a threat going forwards, with ex- Charlton and Everton attacker creating issues for the defence.

James shot wide in the second half but Atalanta upped the intensity and deservedly levelled when former West Ham United striker Gianluca Scamacca a centering pass.

Alejandro Garnacho hammered a strong effort straight at the goalkeeper but Atalanta got the winning goal in the closing stages when the Chelsea defence retreated from the midfielder, who took full advantage with a powerful strike.

The visitors attempted to salvage a draw in stoppage time but a brilliant stop by Marco Carnesecchi kept out Joao Pedro.

The result means Chelsea drop out of the top eight—the positions that progress automatically for the knockouts—to eleventh with two group stage games left to play.

The Bergamo club, in contrast, leap up to third, three points ahead of the Blues.

Chelsea Analysis - Concerning Run Continues

This was a hugely disappointing outcome for Chelsea as even a draw was keeping them in a strong position to secure the top eight position they require to bypass the uncertainty of the qualifying play-off round.

But they lacked concentration in defence with seven minutes remaining and their opponents took full advantage.

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 leaving with nothing after securing the early advantage.

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

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

Excessive Changes Turning Out to Be Costly?

Chelsea boss Maresca enacted five alterations for this game as he persisted with his policy of rotating players in and out of the starting lineup.

The changes here came after he implemented the identical amount for the defeat to Leeds United and six for the draw with AFC Bournemouth prior to the trip to Bergamo.

Maresca will see rotation as necessary as he tries to handle players' workloads and challenge both at domestically and abroad, but he insisted the core group of players remains the unchanged for important games.

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

"If you see the five changes that we did relative to Bournemouth it may be a change but it is the eight or nine players playing in that match.

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

What's Next for These Clubs?

The Blues' next Champions League game sees them welcome Pafos on the coming Wednesday (20:00 GMT).

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