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Match Summary

• Joao Pedro gives Chelsea the advantage in the opening period.
• The Italian outfit the stronger side after the break and draw level through the striker.
• The Belgian attacker scores a last-gasp decisive goal for the home side.
• The defeat means Chelsea drop to eleventh place in the group stage of the Champions League.
• The leading eight teams progress automatically for the knockout phase.

The London club's hopes of qualifying automatically for the European Cup knockouts were dealt a blow as their Italian opponents overturned a deficit to win in Bergamo.

Each club entered this match with the same records in the initial stage of this season's competition, having won, tied one, and lost to be on 10 points.

For much of the game there was not much to choose between them in this encounter too, even though Chelsea went ahead in the opening 45 minutes when the Brazilian converted the captain's delivery.

But The Serie A side remained a threat going forward, with former Premier League attacker causing problems for the defence.

Reece James shot wide in the second half but Atalanta increased the pressure and rightfully drew level when ex-West Ham striker nodded home a cross.

The winger hammered a strong effort straight at the goalkeeper but Atalanta secured the winning goal late on when the Chelsea defence backed off Charles de Ketelaere, who seized the opportunity with a powerful strike.

Chelsea attempted to rescue a point late on but a brilliant save by the Atalanta goalkeeper denied Pedro.

The result means Chelsea drop out of the top eight—the positions that qualify automatically for the next round—to eleventh with two league phase fixtures remaining.

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

Blues Breakdown - Worrying Run Continues

This was a deeply disappointing outcome for Chelsea as even a draw was leaving them well placed to secure the top-eight position they require to bypass the lottery of the qualifying play-off round.

But they lost focus in their defensive duties with seven minutes left on the clock and their opponents took full advantage.

The Italian side are in rich vein of form at the moment so this was always going to be a challenging examination for the visitors, but they will be disappointed to be leaving with nothing after taking the early advantage.

But the broader context is that this perpetuates Chelsea's troubling streak 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.

Too Many Changes Turning Out to Be Costly?

Chelsea boss Maresca enacted five rotations for this game as he continued his run of rotating players in and out of the first team.

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

Maresca will view squad rotation as necessary as he attempts to manage players' workloads and challenge both at domestically and in Europe, but he insisted the core group of players remains the same for crucial fixtures.

"I believe tonight [in] the starting lineup we had eight or nine players who played against Tottenham, FC Barcelona, and the Gunners," he said.

"If you look at the five alterations that we made compared to Bournemouth it is a change but it is the same eight or nine players playing in that match.

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

Up Next for These Clubs?

The Blues' next Champions League fixture sees them welcome Pafos on the coming Wednesday (8pm GMT).

Atalanta, meanwhile, host Athletic Club at the identical kick-off time.