Chelsea's Hopes Hit by Loss at Bergamo

Match Summary

• Joao Pedro gives Chelsea the lead in the opening period.
• Atalanta the stronger side after the interval and equalise through the striker.
• Charles de Ketelaere scores a last-gasp winner for the hosts.
• The defeat means Chelsea slide to eleventh place in the group stage of the tournament.
• The leading eight teams qualify automatically for the knockouts.

Chelsea's hopes of securing a place automatically for the Champions League knockouts were dealt a blow as Atalanta came from behind to win in their home stadium.

The two teams went into this fixture with identical records in the league phase of this year's tournament, having won, tied one, and suffered one defeat to be on ten points.

For extended periods there was very little to choose between them in this encounter too, even though Chelsea took the lead in the opening 45 minutes when the Brazilian turned in Reece James' cross.

But Atalanta always looked a threat going forwards, with ex- Charlton and Everton attacker Ademola Lookman problems for the defence.

James fired wide in the second half but the home team upped the intensity and rightfully drew level when ex-West Ham striker Gianluca Scamacca a centering pass.

Alejandro Garnacho drove a strong effort straight at the keeper but Atalanta got the winner in the closing stages when the Blues defence backed off Charles de Ketelaere, who seized the opportunity with a powerful shot.

Chelsea attempted to rescue a point late on but a superb save by Marco Carnesecchi kept out Pedro.

The final score means Chelsea fall out of the top eight—the positions that qualify automatically for the knockouts—to eleventh with two league phase fixtures remaining.

Atalanta, in contrast, leap 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 draw was keeping them in a strong position to achieve the top eight position they require to avoid the lottery of the play-offs.

But they lost focus in their defensive duties with seven minutes remaining and their opponents capitalised completely.

The Italian side are in rich vein of form at the moment so this was always going to be a challenging test for the visitors, but they will be frustrated to be departing with no points after securing the early advantage.

But the wider issue is that this continues Chelsea's troubling streak of form in all tournaments.

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

Excessive Rotations Proving Costly?

Manager Enzo Enzo Maresca enacted five rotations for this game as he persisted with his strategy of moving players in and out of the starting lineup.

The changes here followed after he made 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 rotation as essential as he attempts to handle players' workloads and compete both at domestically and in Europe, but he insisted the central contingent of players stays the unchanged for important fixtures.

"I believe tonight [in] the first XI we had eight or nine players who featured against Tottenham, Barcelona, and Arsenal," he stated.

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

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

Up Next for These Teams?

Chelsea's next Champions League fixture sees them host the Cypriot side on the coming Wednesday (20:00 GMT).

The Italian team, on the other hand, host Athletic Bilbao at the same time.