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At a Glance

• The Chelsea forward hands Chelsea the advantage in the first half.
• Atalanta the stronger side after the break and equalise through the striker.
• Charles de Ketelaere grabs a late winner 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 knockouts.

The London club's ambitions of securing a place automatically for the Champions League knockout stages were dealt a blow as Atalanta came from behind to triumph in Bergamo.

Both sides went into this game with matching points tallies in the league phase of this season's competition, having won, tied one, and suffered one defeat to have accrued ten points.

For extended periods there was little to separate them in this encounter too, even though Chelsea took the lead in the opening 45 minutes when the Brazilian turned in 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.

James shot wide in the after the break but Atalanta increased the pressure and justly drew level when former West Ham United striker nodded home a centering pass.

Alejandro Garnacho drove a powerful shot straight at the goalkeeper but they scored the winner late on when the Blues defence backed off the midfielder, who seized the opportunity with a powerful finish.

Chelsea attempted to salvage a point in stoppage time but a excellent save by the Atalanta goalkeeper kept out Joao Pedro.

The final score means Chelsea slip out of the top eight—the spots that qualify automatically for the knockouts—to 11th with two league phase fixtures remaining.

The Bergamo club, in contrast, jump up to third, three points ahead of the Londoners.

Blues Breakdown - Worrying Form Continues

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

But they lacked concentration in their defensive duties with seven minutes left on the clock and their opponents capitalised completely.

The Italians are in good form at the moment so this was always going to be a difficult test for the Blues, but they will be annoyed to be leaving with nothing after taking the lead.

But the bigger picture is that this perpetuates Chelsea's concerning streak of form in all tournaments.

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

Excessive Rotations Proving Expensive?

Manager Enzo Maresca made five rotations for this match as he persisted with his run of moving players in and out of the first team.

The rotations here came after he made the same number for the loss to Leeds United and six for the draw with Bournemouth prior to the trip to Bergamo.

The coach will see squad rotation as necessary as he tries to manage players' fitness and challenge both at domestically and in Europe, but he stated the central contingent of players stays the unchanged for important fixtures.

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

"If you look at the five changes that we made relative to Bournemouth it is a change but it is the eight or nine players who played in that match.

"The ones who played this evening are the individuals playing almost all the games."

Up Next for These Sides?

The Blues' next European game sees them host Pafos on Wednesday, 21 January (8pm GMT).

The Italian team, meanwhile, are at home to Athletic Bilbao at the identical kick-off time.