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At a Glance

• The Chelsea forward hands Chelsea the lead in the opening period.
• Atalanta the stronger side after the break and equalise through Gianluca Scamacca.
• The Belgian attacker scores a last-gasp decisive goal for the home side.
• The defeat means Chelsea slide to eleventh place in the league phase of the tournament.
• The leading eight teams progress automatically for the knockouts.

Chelsea's hopes of securing a place automatically for the European Cup knockouts were dealt a blow as their Italian opponents overturned a deficit to claim victory in Bergamo.

Each club entered this match with identical points tallies in the league phase of this season's tournament, having secured three victories, tied one, and suffered one defeat to be on ten points.

For much of the game there was not much to choose between them in this encounter too, although Chelsea went ahead in the first half when the Brazilian converted Reece James' cross.

But Atalanta always looked a danger going forward, with former Premier League attacker causing issues for the defence.

James fired wide in the second half but the home team raised the intensity and justly levelled when ex-West Ham striker headed in a cross.

The winger hammered a powerful shot straight at the keeper but Atalanta scored the decisive strike in the closing stages when the Blues defenders retreated from the midfielder, who took full advantage with a low strike.

The visitors tried to salvage a point late on but a superb stop by Marco Carnesecchi denied Pedro.

The outcome means Chelsea drop out of the top eight—the positions that qualify automatically for the knockouts—to 11th with two group stage fixtures left to play.

The Bergamo club, meanwhile, jump up to third place, three points ahead of the Londoners.

Blues Breakdown - Concerning Form Continues

This was a hugely frustrating result for Chelsea as even a draw was keeping them in a strong position to achieve the top-eight position they need to bypass the uncertainty of the qualifying play-off round.

But they lost focus in their defensive duties with seven minutes remaining 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 difficult test for the Blues, but they will be annoyed to be departing with no points after securing the early advantage.

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

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

Excessive Rotations Proving Expensive?

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

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 journey to Bergamo.

The coach will see squad rotation as essential as he attempts to handle players' minutes and compete both at home and abroad, but he insisted the key nucleus of players stays the same for important games.

"I believe in this match [in] the starting lineup we had eight or nine players who played against Tottenham, FC Barcelona, and Arsenal," he stated.

"If you look at the five alterations that we did relative to the previous game it may be different but it is the same eight or nine players who played Barcelona.

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

What Next for These Sides?

The Blues' next European game sees them welcome Pafos on Wednesday, 21 January (20:00 GMT).

The Italian team, meanwhile, are at home to Athletic Club at the same time.