Chelsea's Hopes Hit by Defeat at Bergamo

Match Summary

• Joao Pedro hands Chelsea the lead in the first half.
• Atalanta the stronger side after the interval and equalise through Gianluca Scamacca.
• The Belgian attacker nets a last-gasp winner for the hosts.
• The defeat means Chelsea slide to eleventh place in the group stage of the Champions League.
• The top eight progress automatically for the last 16.

Chelsea's ambitions of qualifying automatically for the European Cup knockouts were hit hard as their Italian opponents overturned a deficit to triumph in their home stadium.

The two teams went into this game with identical records in the initial stage of this season's competition, having won, drawn, and lost to have accrued ten points.

For large parts there was not much to choose between them in this encounter too, although Chelsea got their noses in front in the opening 45 minutes when the Brazilian finished Reece James' cross.

But The Serie A side consistently appeared a danger going on the attack, with ex- Charlton and Everton attacker causing problems for the defence.

Reece James shot wide in the second half but the home team raised the pressure and deservedly equalised when ex-West Ham striker nodded home a centering pass.

The winger hammered a strong effort straight at the goalkeeper but Atalanta scored the winning goal late on when the Chelsea defenders retreated from the midfielder, who made no mistake with a driven finish.

The visitors attempted to salvage a draw late on but a superb stop by Marco Carnesecchi denied Joao Pedro.

The final score means Chelsea fall out of the automatic qualification places—the positions that qualify automatically for the knockouts—to 11th with two group stage fixtures remaining.

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

Blues Breakdown - Concerning Form Continues

This was a hugely 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 uncertainty of the qualifying play-off round.

But they let their concentration slip in defence 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 tough test for the visitors, but they will be disappointed to be leaving with nothing after securing the lead.

But the bigger picture is that this perpetuates Chelsea's troubling run of results in all competitions.

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

Excessive Changes Turning Out to Be Costly?

Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca made five alterations for this match as he persisted with his run of rotating players in and out of the starting lineup.

The rotations here followed after he made the identical amount for the loss to Leeds and six for the draw with Bournemouth prior to the trip to Atalanta.

Maresca will see squad rotation as necessary as he attempts to manage players' workloads and compete both at domestically and in Europe, but he maintained the key nucleus of players stays the unchanged for crucial fixtures.

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

"If you look at the five changes that we did compared to the previous game it may be a change but it is the eight or nine players who played Barcelona.

"The players who took to the field tonight are the individuals playing almost all the matches."

Up Next for These Sides?

Chelsea's next Champions League fixture sees them host Pafos on the coming Wednesday (8pm GMT).

The Italian team, meanwhile, are at home to Athletic Bilbao at the identical kick-off time.