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Key Moments

• The Chelsea forward hands Chelsea the advantage in the first half.
• Atalanta the stronger side after the interval and draw level through Gianluca Scamacca.
• Charles de Ketelaere nets a last-gasp decisive goal for the home side.
• Loss means Chelsea fall to 11th in the league phase of the tournament.
• The leading eight teams qualify automatically for the knockout phase.

The London club's ambitions of securing a place automatically for the Champions League knockout stages were dealt a blow as Atalanta overturned a deficit to win in Bergamo.

The two teams entered this fixture with matching records in the league phase of this season's competition, having secured three victories, drawn, and suffered one defeat to be on ten points.

For large parts there was little to distinguish them in this encounter too, even though Chelsea went ahead in the opening 45 minutes when the Brazilian finished Reece James' cross.

But Atalanta remained a danger going forwards, with ex- Charlton and Everton attacker Ademola Lookman issues for the defence.

James fired wide in the after the break but the home team increased the pressure and rightfully levelled when former West Ham United striker headed in a cross.

Alejandro Garnacho hammered a strong effort straight at the keeper but they scored the winning goal in the closing stages when the Blues defence backed off Charles de Ketelaere, who made no mistake with a driven finish.

Chelsea attempted to rescue a point in stoppage time but a excellent stop by Marco Carnesecchi denied Pedro.

The outcome means Chelsea slip out of the top eight—the spots that qualify automatically for the knockouts—to eleventh with two league phase games left to play.

Atalanta, in contrast, jump up to third place, three points clear of the Londoners.

Chelsea Analysis - Worrying Run Continues

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

But they lacked concentration in their defensive duties with seven minutes remaining and Atalanta took full advantage.

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

But the bigger picture is that this extends Chelsea's concerning sequence of results in all competitions.

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

Too Many Changes Proving Costly?

Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca enacted five rotations for this match as he persisted with his policy of moving players in and out of the starting lineup.

The rotations here followed after he implemented the same number for the loss to Leeds United and six for the draw with AFC Bournemouth prior to the journey to Bergamo.

Maresca will view rotation as necessary as he attempts to handle players' workloads and compete both at home and abroad, but he insisted the central contingent of players remains the unchanged for crucial fixtures.

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

"If you look at the five alterations that we made relative to the previous game it is different but it involves the same eight or nine players playing Barcelona.

"The players who played tonight are the individuals who feature in almost all the matches."

What's Next for These Sides?

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

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