The Blues' Hopes Suffer a Setback by Defeat at Bergamo

At a Glance

• Joao Pedro gives Chelsea the lead in the opening period.
• Atalanta the stronger side after the interval and equalise through the striker.
• Charles de Ketelaere grabs a last-gasp decisive goal for the hosts.
• The defeat means Chelsea drop to eleventh place in the league phase of the tournament.
• The leading eight teams progress automatically for the knockout phase.

The London club's hopes of securing a place automatically for the European Cup knockout stages were suffered a setback as their Italian opponents overturned a deficit to triumph in Bergamo.

Both sides went into this match with the same points tallies in the initial stage of this year's tournament, having secured three victories, tied one, and lost to have accrued 10 points.

For much of the game there was very little to separate them in this contest too, although Chelsea went ahead in the opening 45 minutes when the Brazilian finished Reece James' cross.

But The Serie A side remained a threat going on the attack, with former Charlton and Everton attacker Ademola Lookman issues for the defence.

Reece James fired wide in the second half but Atalanta increased the intensity and rightfully drew level when ex-West Ham striker headed in a cross.

The winger hammered a strong effort straight at the goalkeeper but they scored the decisive strike in the closing stages when the Blues defence retreated from Charles de Ketelaere, who made no mistake with a powerful strike.

The visitors tried to rescue a point late on but a brilliant stop by the Atalanta goalkeeper kept out Pedro.

The final score means Chelsea slip out of the automatic qualification places—the spots that progress automatically for the next round—to eleventh with two league phase matches left to play.

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

Blues Breakdown - Concerning Sequence Continues

This was a deeply frustrating outcome for Chelsea as even a draw was leaving them well placed to achieve the top-eight finish they need to avoid the uncertainty of the play-offs.

But they let their concentration slip in defence with seven minutes remaining and Atalanta took full advantage.

The Italians are in good form at the moment so this was always going to be a challenging test for the Blues, but they will be disappointed to be departing with no points after securing the early advantage.

But the bigger picture is that this perpetuates Chelsea's worrying sequence of results in all tournaments.

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

Excessive Rotations Turning Out to Be Costly?

Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca enacted five rotations for this match as he continued his policy of moving players in and out of the starting 11.

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

The coach will see rotation as necessary as he attempts to handle players' minutes and challenge both at domestically and abroad, but he insisted the central contingent of players remains the unchanged for important fixtures.

"I think tonight [in] the starting lineup we had eight or nine players who featured against Tottenham Hotspur, Barcelona, and the Gunners," he stated.

"If you look at the five alterations that we did compared to Bournemouth it may be a change but it involves the same eight or nine players who played in that match.

"The players who played tonight are the individuals who feature in almost all the games."

What Next for These Clubs?

The Blues' next Champions League fixture sees them host the Cypriot side on the coming Wednesday (8pm GMT).

Atalanta, meanwhile, host Athletic Bilbao at the same time.