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Key Moments

• Joao Pedro hands Chelsea the lead in the opening period.
• The Italian outfit the better side after the break and draw level through the striker.
• Charles de Ketelaere scores a late decisive goal for the home side.
• Loss means Chelsea drop to 11th in the league phase of the tournament.
• The leading eight teams qualify automatically for the knockouts.

Chelsea's hopes of securing a place automatically for the European Cup knockouts were hit hard as their Italian opponents overturned a deficit to triumph in their home stadium.

The two teams entered this match with identical points tallies in the initial stage of this season's tournament, having secured three victories, tied one, and suffered one defeat to be on ten points.

For much of the game there was little to choose between them in this encounter too, even though Chelsea went ahead in the opening 45 minutes when Joao Pedro finished the captain's cross.

But The Serie A side always looked a danger going forwards, with former Premier League attacker creating problems for the backline.

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

Alejandro Garnacho drove a powerful shot straight at the keeper but they scored the decisive strike late on when the Chelsea defence retreated from the midfielder, who made no mistake with a driven shot.

The visitors tried to rescue a point in stoppage time but a excellent save by the Atalanta goalkeeper kept out Joao Pedro.

The result means Chelsea slip out of the top eight—the spots that progress automatically for the knockouts—to eleventh with two group stage fixtures remaining.

Atalanta, in contrast, climb up to third, three points ahead of the Blues.

Blues Breakdown - Worrying Form Persists

This was a deeply disappointing result for Chelsea as even a draw was keeping them in a strong position to achieve the top eight finish they require to avoid the uncertainty of the play-offs.

But they let their concentration slip in defence with seven minutes remaining and Atalanta seized the moment.

The Italian side are in good form at the moment so this was always going to be a challenging test for the visitors, but they will be annoyed to be leaving with no points after taking the lead.

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

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

Excessive Changes Turning Out to Be Expensive?

Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca made five changes for this match as he continued his run of moving players in and out of the first team.

The changes here came after he made the identical amount for the loss to Leeds United and six for the tie with Bournemouth prior to the trip to Bergamo.

The coach will view rotation as essential as he tries to manage players' fitness and challenge both at home and in Europe, but he insisted the central contingent of players remains the same for important fixtures.

"I believe tonight [in] the starting lineup we had eight or nine players who played against Tottenham, Barcelona, and Arsenal," he said.

"If you see the five alterations that we did compared to Bournemouth it may be a change but it is the same eight or nine players who played Barcelona.

"The players who took to the field tonight are the individuals playing almost all the matches."

What Next for These Sides?

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

Atalanta, on the other hand, are at home to Athletic Bilbao at the identical kick-off time.