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Key Moments

• Joao Pedro gives Chelsea the advantage in the first half.
• The Italian outfit the stronger side after the break and equalise through Gianluca Scamacca.
• Charles de Ketelaere nets a last-gasp winner for the hosts.
• Loss means Chelsea fall to eleventh place in the league phase of the tournament.
• The top eight qualify automatically for the last 16.

The London club's hopes of securing a place automatically for the European Cup knockouts were hit hard as Atalanta overturned a deficit to claim victory in Bergamo.

The two teams went into this match with matching points tallies in the initial stage of this year's tournament, having secured three victories, drawn, and suffered one defeat to sit on ten points.

For large parts there was very little to separate them in this contest too, even though Chelsea took the lead in the first half when the Brazilian converted the captain's cross.

But The Serie A side consistently appeared a danger going on the attack, with ex- Premier League attacker Ademola Lookman issues for the defence.

James fired wide in the after the break but the home team raised the intensity and justly equalised when former West Ham United striker headed in a centering pass.

The winger drove a strong effort straight at the keeper but they got the winning goal late on when the Chelsea defenders retreated from Charles de Ketelaere, who made no mistake with a powerful shot.

The visitors tried to rescue a draw in stoppage time but a brilliant stop by Marco Carnesecchi denied Joao Pedro.

The outcome 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.

Atalanta, meanwhile, jump up to third, three points ahead of the Londoners.

Chelsea Analysis - Concerning Run Continues

This was a extremely disappointing result for Chelsea as even a point was leaving them well placed to achieve the top-eight position they need to avoid the uncertainty of the play-offs.

But they let their concentration slip in their defensive duties with seven minutes left on the clock and their opponents took full advantage.

The Italian side are in good form at the moment so this was always going to be a challenging test for the Blues, but they will be annoyed to be departing with no points after taking the lead.

But the broader context is that this extends Chelsea's worrying streak of results in all tournaments.

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

Excessive Rotations Proving Expensive?

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

The rotations here came after he made the same number for the loss to Leeds and six for the tie with Bournemouth prior to the journey to Atalanta.

Maresca will view squad rotation as vital as he attempts to manage players' workloads and compete both at domestically and in Europe, but he insisted the central contingent of players stays the unchanged for important games.

"I believe in this match [in] the first XI we had eight or nine players who featured against Tottenham Hotspur, Barcelona, and the Gunners," he stated.

"If you see the five alterations that we did relative to Bournemouth it may be different but it involves the eight or nine players playing in that match.

"The players who took to the field this evening are the individuals playing almost all the games."

What Next for These Clubs?

Chelsea's next European fixture sees them host Pafos on the coming Wednesday (20:00 GMT).

Atalanta, on the other hand, are at home to Athletic Bilbao at the same time.