🔗 Share this article

At a Glance

• Joao Pedro hands Chelsea the advantage in the first half.
• Atalanta the stronger side after the break and equalise through Gianluca Scamacca.
• The Belgian attacker grabs a late decisive goal for the hosts.
• The defeat means Chelsea slide to 11th in the group stage of the Champions League.
• The leading eight teams qualify automatically for the last 16.

The London club's hopes of qualifying automatically for the Champions League knockout stages were hit hard as Atalanta overturned a deficit to win in their home stadium.

Both sides entered this fixture with matching records in the league phase of this season's tournament, having won, drawn, and lost to be on ten points.

For much of the game there was not much to distinguish them in this contest too, although Chelsea took the lead in the first half when Joao Pedro finished Reece James' delivery.

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

Reece James shot wide in the second half but Atalanta raised the intensity and justly levelled when ex-West Ham striker Gianluca Scamacca a cross.

The winger hammered a powerful shot straight at the goalkeeper but Atalanta got the winner in the closing stages when the Chelsea defence backed off Charles de Ketelaere, who seized the opportunity with a driven shot.

The visitors attempted to salvage a draw late on but a brilliant stop by Marco Carnesecchi kept out Pedro.

The outcome means Chelsea drop out of the top eight—the positions that qualify automatically for the knockouts—to 11th with two league phase fixtures remaining.

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

Chelsea Analysis - Worrying Form Continues

This was a extremely disappointing outcome for Chelsea as even a point was keeping them well placed to secure the top eight finish they require to avoid the uncertainty of the qualifying play-off round.

But they lost focus in defence with seven minutes remaining and Atalanta capitalised completely.

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 disappointed to be departing with no points after securing the lead.

But the bigger picture is that this continues Chelsea's worrying run of results in all competitions.

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

Excessive Rotations Proving Expensive?

Manager Enzo Enzo Maresca made five alterations for this match as he persisted with his strategy of moving players in and out of the starting 11.

The rotations here came after he implemented the same number for the loss to Leeds and six for the tie with AFC Bournemouth prior to the trip to Bergamo.

The coach will view rotation as vital as he tries to handle players' fitness and compete both at home and abroad, but he insisted the core group of players stays the unchanged for key fixtures.

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

"If you see the five changes that we made compared to Bournemouth it is a change but it involves the same eight or nine players who played Barcelona.

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

Up Next for These Clubs?

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

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