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Key Moments

• The Chelsea forward hands Chelsea the advantage in the opening period.
• The Italian outfit the better side after the interval and equalise through the striker.
• Charles de Ketelaere nets a late decisive goal for the hosts.
• Loss means Chelsea drop to eleventh place in the group stage of the Champions League.
• The top eight progress automatically for the knockout phase.

Chelsea's ambitions of securing a place automatically for the Champions League knockouts were hit hard as their Italian opponents came from behind to win in their home stadium.

Both sides went into this game with the same points tallies in the initial stage of this year's competition, having won, tied one, and suffered one defeat to have accrued 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 the captain's cross.

But The Serie A side always looked a danger going forward, with ex- Premier League attacker causing problems for the defence.

Reece James fired wide in the second half but the home team raised the pressure and deservedly drew level when ex-West Ham striker headed in a cross.

The winger hammered a powerful shot straight at the keeper but Atalanta scored the winner in the closing stages when the Blues defence backed off Charles de Ketelaere, who seized the opportunity with a powerful shot.

Chelsea attempted to rescue a point late on but a excellent stop by the Atalanta goalkeeper kept out Pedro.

The result means Chelsea drop out of the top eight—the spots that progress automatically for the next round—to eleventh with two league phase games left to play.

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

Chelsea Analysis - Concerning Form Continues

This was a deeply frustrating result for Chelsea as even a point was keeping them well placed to secure the top-eight position they require to avoid the uncertainty of the qualifying play-off round.

But they lacked concentration in their defensive duties with seven minutes remaining and Atalanta seized the moment.

The Italian side are in fine fettle at the moment so this was always going to be a tough examination for the Blues, but they will be annoyed to be departing with no points after taking the early advantage.

But the wider issue is that this perpetuates Chelsea's worrying streak of results in all tournaments.

Since defeating the Spanish giants 3-0 at the end of November they are now winless in their last four games.

Excessive Rotations Turning Out to Be Costly?

Chelsea boss Maresca enacted five changes for this match as he persisted with his strategy of moving players in and out of the starting 11.

The rotations here came after he implemented the identical amount for the defeat to Leeds United and six for the tie with Bournemouth prior to the journey to Atalanta.

The coach will view rotation as vital as he tries to handle players' workloads and compete both at home and in Europe, but he maintained the core group of players remains the unchanged for crucial games.

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

"If you see the five changes that we made compared to the previous game it may be different but it is the same eight or nine players playing in that match.

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

Up Next for These Teams?

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

Atalanta, on the other hand, host Athletic Bilbao at the identical kick-off time.