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Match Summary

• Joao Pedro hands Chelsea the lead in the opening period.
• Atalanta the stronger side after the interval and draw level through the striker.
• The Belgian attacker grabs a last-gasp winner 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 knockout phase.

The London club's chances of securing a place automatically for the Champions League knockouts were suffered a setback as their Italian opponents fought back to win in their home stadium.

The two teams entered this game with matching records in the league phase of this year's competition, having won, tied one, and suffered one defeat to have accrued 10 points.

For extended periods there was little to distinguish them in this contest too, even though Chelsea went ahead in the opening 45 minutes when Joao Pedro finished the captain's cross.

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

James fired wide in the after the break but the home team increased the intensity and rightfully equalised when ex-West Ham striker Gianluca Scamacca 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 defenders retreated from Charles de Ketelaere, who seized the opportunity with a powerful shot.

The visitors attempted to rescue a draw in stoppage time but a excellent stop by Marco Carnesecchi denied Pedro.

The result means Chelsea drop out of the automatic qualification places—the positions that qualify automatically for the next round—to 11th with two group stage matches left to play.

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

Chelsea Analysis - Worrying Sequence Persists

This was a extremely disappointing result for Chelsea as even a draw was leaving them in a strong position to achieve the top-eight position they require to bypass the lottery of the qualifying play-off round.

But they let their concentration slip in their defensive duties with seven minutes remaining and their opponents took full advantage.

The Italian side are in fine fettle at the moment so this was always going to be a difficult test for the visitors, but they will be frustrated to be departing with no points after taking the lead.

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

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

Too Many Changes Proving Expensive?

Chelsea boss Maresca made five alterations for this match as he persisted with his strategy of rotating players in and out of the starting lineup.

The rotations here followed after he implemented the identical amount for the defeat to Leeds and six for the tie with Bournemouth prior to the trip to Bergamo.

Maresca will view squad rotation as essential as he attempts to manage players' minutes and compete both at home and abroad, but he stated the key nucleus of players stays the unchanged for important games.

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

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

"The ones who took to the field tonight are the individuals who feature in almost all the matches."

Up Next for These Teams?

The Blues' next Champions League fixture sees them welcome Pafos on the coming Wednesday (20:00 GMT).

The Italian team, on the other hand, are at home to Athletic Bilbao at the same time.