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Key Moments

• Joao Pedro gives Chelsea the advantage in the opening period.
• The Italian outfit the better side after the break and draw level through the striker.
• Charles de Ketelaere grabs a last-gasp decisive goal for the hosts.
• The defeat means Chelsea fall to eleventh place in the group stage of the Champions League.
• The leading eight teams qualify automatically for the knockout phase.

Chelsea's hopes of qualifying automatically for the European Cup knockouts were suffered a setback as their Italian opponents fought back to triumph in their home stadium.

Each club went into this fixture with identical points tallies in the initial stage of this year's competition, having secured three victories, tied one, and lost to sit on ten points.

For extended periods there was little to separate them in this encounter too, even though Chelsea took the lead in the opening 45 minutes when Joao Pedro converted Reece James' cross.

But The Serie A side consistently appeared a danger going forward, with former Charlton and Everton attacker creating problems for the backline.

James shot wide in the after the break but Atalanta raised the intensity and deservedly levelled when ex-West Ham striker headed in a centering pass.

Alejandro Garnacho hammered a strong effort straight at the keeper but Atalanta scored the winning goal late on when the Blues defence backed off Charles de Ketelaere, who made no mistake with a driven strike.

The visitors attempted to salvage a point in stoppage time but a superb save by the Atalanta goalkeeper kept out Joao Pedro.

The result means Chelsea fall out of the top eight—the spots that progress automatically for the next round—to 11th with two group stage fixtures remaining.

Atalanta, in contrast, climb up to third, three points clear of the Londoners.

Blues Breakdown - Worrying Run Continues

This was a extremely disappointing outcome for Chelsea as even a point was leaving them in a strong position to achieve the top eight finish they need to bypass the uncertainty of the play-offs.

But they lost focus in defence with seven minutes remaining and Atalanta seized the moment.

The Italian side are in fine fettle at the moment so this was always going to be a difficult examination for the Blues, but they will be annoyed to be leaving with no points after securing the lead.

But the bigger picture is that this perpetuates Chelsea's worrying streak of form in all competitions.

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

Too Many Changes Proving Costly?

Manager Enzo Maresca made five changes for this match as he persisted with his policy of rotating players in and out of the starting lineup.

The rotations here followed after he made the same number for the defeat to Leeds and six for the draw with Bournemouth prior to the trip to Atalanta.

The coach will view squad rotation as vital as he attempts to manage players' workloads and challenge both at domestically and in Europe, but he insisted the key nucleus of players stays the unchanged for key games.

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

"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 who played Barcelona.

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

Up Next for These Teams?

The Blues' next European game sees them host the Cypriot side on Wednesday, 21 January (8pm GMT).

Atalanta, on the other hand, are at home to Athletic Club at the identical kick-off time.