🔗 Share this article

Match Summary

• Joao Pedro gives Chelsea the lead in the first half.
• The Italian outfit the stronger side after the interval and draw level through Gianluca Scamacca.
• Charles de Ketelaere nets a late winner for the home side.
• Loss means Chelsea drop to eleventh place in the group stage of the tournament.
• The top eight qualify automatically for the last 16.

Chelsea's ambitions of qualifying automatically for the Champions League knockout stages were suffered a setback as their Italian opponents fought back to claim victory in their home stadium.

Both sides entered this fixture with the same records in the league phase of this season's tournament, having won, tied one, and lost to be on 10 points.

For extended periods there was very little to separate them in this encounter too, even though Chelsea went ahead in the first half when Joao Pedro converted the captain's delivery.

But The Serie A side remained a danger going on the attack, with ex- Premier League attacker creating problems for the backline.

James fired wide in the second half but the home team raised the intensity and rightfully equalised when former West Ham United striker nodded home a centering pass.

Alejandro Garnacho drove a powerful shot straight at the keeper but Atalanta secured the winning goal in the closing stages when the Blues defenders retreated from the midfielder, who took full advantage with a powerful shot.

Chelsea tried to rescue a point late on but a superb stop by the Atalanta goalkeeper denied Pedro.

The final score means Chelsea fall out of the top eight—the positions that progress automatically for the knockouts—to 11th with two league phase fixtures remaining.

The Bergamo club, meanwhile, leap up to third place, three points ahead of the Blues.

Blues Breakdown - Concerning Sequence Persists

This was a extremely frustrating outcome for Chelsea as even a point was keeping them in a strong position to secure the top eight finish they require to avoid the uncertainty of the play-offs.

But they lost focus in their defensive duties with seven minutes remaining and their opponents seized the moment.

The Italian side are in good form at the moment so this was always going to be a challenging test for the visitors, but they will be disappointed to be departing with nothing after securing the early advantage.

But the broader context is that this extends Chelsea's concerning run of results in all competitions.

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

Excessive Rotations Turning Out to Be Expensive?

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

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

The coach will see squad rotation as essential as he tries to handle players' minutes and compete both at home and in Europe, but he maintained the core group of players remains the same for key fixtures.

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

"If you see the five alterations that we did compared to the previous game it is different but it involves the eight or nine players who played in that match.

"The players who played this evening are the ones playing almost all the games."

Up Next for These Clubs?

The Blues' next European game sees them welcome Pafos on Wednesday, 21 January (8pm GMT).

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