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Match Summary

• The Chelsea forward gives Chelsea the advantage in the first half.
• Atalanta the better side after the break and equalise through the striker.
• The Belgian attacker nets a late winner for the home side.
• The defeat means Chelsea fall to 11th in the league phase of the tournament.
• The top eight qualify automatically for the knockouts.

Chelsea's ambitions of qualifying automatically for the European Cup knockouts were suffered a setback as their Italian opponents came from behind to claim victory in their home stadium.

The two teams went into this fixture with identical records in the initial stage of this season's tournament, having secured three victories, drawn, and lost to sit on 10 points.

For extended periods there was very little to separate them in this encounter too, even though Chelsea got their noses in front in the opening 45 minutes when the Brazilian converted Reece James' cross.

But The Serie A side remained a danger going forwards, with ex- Charlton and Everton attacker causing issues for the defence.

James shot wide in the second half but Atalanta upped the pressure and justly equalised when ex-West Ham striker headed in a cross.

Alejandro Garnacho drove a strong effort straight at the keeper but they got the winning goal late on when the Blues defence backed off the midfielder, who took full advantage with a driven shot.

The visitors tried to rescue a point in stoppage time but a brilliant stop by Marco Carnesecchi kept out Joao Pedro.

The result means Chelsea slip out of the top eight—the positions that progress automatically for the next round—to eleventh with two group stage fixtures left to play.

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

Blues Breakdown - Worrying Run Continues

This was a extremely disappointing result for Chelsea as even a point was keeping them in a strong position to achieve the top eight finish they require to bypass the lottery of the play-offs.

But they let their concentration slip in defence with seven minutes remaining and their opponents seized the moment.

The Italians 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 departing with no points after securing the lead.

But the wider issue is that this perpetuates Chelsea's concerning run of results in all tournaments.

Since defeating the Spanish giants 3-0 at the close of November they are now without a win in their last four matches.

Excessive Changes Turning Out to Be Expensive?

Chelsea boss Maresca enacted five rotations for this game as he persisted with his run of rotating players in and out of the starting 11.

The changes here followed after he implemented the same number for the loss to Leeds United and six for the tie with AFC Bournemouth prior to the trip to Atalanta.

Maresca will view squad rotation as essential as he tries to handle players' workloads and compete both at domestically and abroad, but he maintained the central contingent of players stays the same for key games.

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

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

"The ones who took to the field this evening are the individuals who feature in almost all the matches."

What's Next for These Teams?

Chelsea's next European fixture sees them host Pafos on Wednesday, 21 January (8pm GMT).

The Italian team, meanwhile, host Athletic Bilbao at the identical kick-off time.