Chelsea's Hopes Hit by Loss at Atalanta

Match Summary

• Joao Pedro gives Chelsea the lead in the first half.
• Atalanta the stronger side after the interval and equalise through Gianluca Scamacca.
• The Belgian attacker nets a late decisive goal for the home side.
• Loss means Chelsea drop to eleventh place in the group stage of the tournament.
• The leading eight teams qualify automatically for the last 16.

The London club's chances of securing a place automatically for the Champions League knockout stages were hit hard as their Italian opponents came from behind to win in their home stadium.

Both sides went into this match with the same records in the initial stage of this season's tournament, having won, drawn, and suffered one defeat to be on 10 points.

For large parts there was very little to choose between them in this encounter too, although Chelsea went ahead in the opening 45 minutes when Joao Pedro finished the captain's cross.

But The Serie A side always looked a threat going forward, with former Charlton and Everton attacker Ademola Lookman issues for the backline.

Reece James fired wide in the second half but Atalanta upped the pressure and deservedly levelled when former West Ham United striker headed in a cross.

The winger hammered a strong effort straight at the keeper but they scored the decisive strike in the closing stages when the Chelsea defence retreated from the midfielder, who seized the opportunity with a driven shot.

Chelsea tried to salvage a draw late on but a excellent save by the Atalanta goalkeeper denied Pedro.

The final score means Chelsea drop out of the automatic qualification places—the positions that qualify automatically for the knockouts—to eleventh with two group stage fixtures left to play.

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

Blues Breakdown - Worrying Sequence Persists

This was a deeply disappointing result for Chelsea as even a point was leaving them in a strong position to achieve the top eight position they require to bypass the uncertainty of the play-offs.

But they lost focus in their defensive duties with seven minutes left on the clock and their opponents seized the moment.

The Italian side are in rich vein of 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 taking the early advantage.

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

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

Too Many Changes Proving Expensive?

Chelsea boss Maresca made five rotations for this game as he persisted with his policy of moving players in and out of the first team.

The rotations here came after he made the identical amount for the defeat to Leeds and six for the draw with Bournemouth prior to the journey to Bergamo.

The coach will see squad rotation as essential as he tries to handle players' workloads and challenge both at domestically and in Europe, but he stated the key nucleus of players stays the unchanged for key fixtures.

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

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

"The players who played this evening are the ones who feature in almost all the matches."

What's Next for These Teams?

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

The Italian team, on the other hand, host Athletic Club at the same time.