The Blues' Automatic Qualification Ambitions Hit by Loss at Atalanta

At a Glance

• Joao Pedro hands Chelsea the advantage in the first half.
• The Italian outfit the stronger side after the interval and draw level through the striker.
• Charles de Ketelaere grabs a last-gasp decisive goal for the hosts.
• The defeat means Chelsea slide to eleventh place in the group stage of the Champions League.
• The leading eight teams qualify automatically for the last 16.

The London club's hopes of securing a place automatically for the Champions League knockout stages were suffered a setback as Atalanta overturned a deficit to claim victory in Bergamo.

Each club entered this match with identical records in the initial stage of this year's tournament, having won, drawn, and suffered one defeat to be on 10 points.

For much of the game there was not much to distinguish them in this encounter too, even though Chelsea went ahead in the first half when the Brazilian finished Reece James' cross.

But The Serie A side consistently appeared a threat going forward, with former Premier League attacker creating problems for the defence.

Reece James fired wide in the after the break but Atalanta upped the pressure and rightfully drew level when former West Ham United striker Gianluca Scamacca a centering pass.

Alejandro Garnacho hammered a powerful shot straight at the keeper but they secured the winner late on when the Chelsea defenders retreated from Charles de Ketelaere, who seized the opportunity with a driven shot.

Chelsea tried to rescue a draw late on but a excellent stop by Marco Carnesecchi denied Pedro.

The result means Chelsea slip out of the automatic qualification places—the positions that progress automatically for the knockouts—to 11th with two group stage games remaining.

The Bergamo club, meanwhile, climb up to third, three points ahead of the Blues.

Blues Breakdown - Concerning Run Persists

This was a extremely disappointing outcome for Chelsea as even a draw was leaving them in a strong position to secure the top eight finish they need to bypass the uncertainty of the play-offs.

But they lost focus in defence with seven minutes remaining and their opponents seized the moment.

The Italians are in rich vein of form at the moment so this was always going to be a challenging examination for the visitors, but they will be annoyed to be leaving with no points after securing the lead.

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

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

Too Many Rotations Turning Out to Be Costly?

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

The changes here followed after he made the same number for the loss to Leeds and six for the tie with Bournemouth prior to the journey to Bergamo.

The coach will see squad rotation as necessary as he tries to handle players' fitness and challenge both at home and abroad, but he maintained the key nucleus of players remains the unchanged for key games.

"I think tonight [in] the first XI we had eight or nine players who played against Tottenham, FC Barcelona, and Arsenal," he stated.

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

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

What Next for These Clubs?

Chelsea's next European game sees them welcome the Cypriot side on Wednesday, 21 January (8pm GMT).

Atalanta, meanwhile, host Athletic Bilbao at the identical kick-off time.