The Blues' Hopes Hit by Reverse at Bergamo

Key Moments

• Joao Pedro hands Chelsea the lead in the opening period.
• The Italian outfit the stronger side after the interval and equalise through the striker.
• The Belgian attacker scores a last-gasp decisive goal for the hosts.
• The defeat means Chelsea fall to 11th in the league phase of the Champions League.
• The top eight progress automatically for the last 16.

Chelsea's hopes of securing a place automatically for the Champions League knockouts were suffered a setback as Atalanta overturned a deficit to triumph in their home stadium.

Each club entered this game with identical records in the league phase of this season's tournament, having secured three victories, tied one, and suffered one defeat to have accrued ten points.

For extended periods there was very little to choose between them in this contest too, even though Chelsea took the lead in the first half when the Brazilian turned in the captain's delivery.

But The Serie A side always looked a threat going on the attack, with former Charlton and Everton attacker causing problems for the defence.

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

The winger drove a powerful shot straight at the keeper but Atalanta got the winner late on when the Chelsea defenders retreated from the midfielder, who made no mistake with a powerful strike.

Chelsea tried to rescue a draw late on but a brilliant save by Marco Carnesecchi kept out Joao Pedro.

The final score means Chelsea slip out of the top eight—the spots that qualify automatically for the next round—to eleventh with two league phase games remaining.

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

Chelsea Analysis - Worrying Run Continues

This was a deeply frustrating result for Chelsea as even a draw was keeping them in a strong position to achieve the top-eight finish they need to avoid the lottery of the play-offs.

But they lacked concentration in their defensive duties with seven minutes left on the clock and Atalanta capitalised completely.

The Italians are in fine fettle at the moment so this was always going to be a challenging test for the Blues, but they will be frustrated to be leaving with no points after securing the early advantage.

But the broader context is that this perpetuates Chelsea's concerning sequence of results in all tournaments.

Since beating Barcelona 3-0 at the end of November they are now winless in their last four games.

Too Many Changes Turning Out to Be Expensive?

Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca made five changes for this game as he persisted with his strategy of moving players in and out of the starting lineup.

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

The coach will see rotation as vital as he attempts to manage players' minutes and compete both at home and abroad, but he maintained the core group of players stays the same for key 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 see the five changes that we did compared to the previous game it is different but it is the same eight or nine players playing Barcelona.

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

What's Next for These Sides?

Chelsea's next European fixture sees them welcome the Cypriot side on the coming Wednesday (8pm GMT).

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