At a Glance
- Joao Pedro hands Chelsea the lead in the opening period.
- The Italian outfit the stronger side after the break and equalise through Gianluca Scamacca.
- The Belgian attacker grabs a late winner for the home side.
- The defeat means Chelsea drop to eleventh place in the group stage of the tournament.
- The top eight qualify automatically for the knockouts.
The London club's chances of securing a place automatically for the European Cup knockout stages were suffered a setback as their Italian opponents came from behind to triumph in their home stadium.
Each club entered this fixture with matching records in the league phase of this season's competition, having secured three victories, tied one, and suffered one defeat to be on ten points.
For extended periods there was very little to separate them in this encounter too, even though Chelsea took the lead in the first half when Joao Pedro finished the captain's cross.
But The Serie A side remained a danger going on the attack, with former Charlton and Everton attacker Ademola Lookman issues for the backline.
Reece James fired wide in the second half but Atalanta increased the intensity and justly drew level when ex-West Ham striker nodded home a centering pass.
The winger drove a powerful shot straight at the keeper but Atalanta secured the decisive strike in the closing stages when the Blues defence backed off the midfielder, who took full advantage with a powerful finish.
The visitors tried to salvage a draw late on but a brilliant stop by Marco Carnesecchi denied Joao Pedro.
The outcome means Chelsea slip out of the top eight—the positions that progress automatically for the next round—to 11th with two league phase games left to play.
Atalanta, meanwhile, climb up to third place, three points clear of the Blues.
Blues Breakdown - Concerning Run Persists
This was a extremely disappointing outcome for Chelsea as even a draw was keeping them in a strong position to secure the top eight finish they require to bypass the lottery of the play-offs.
But they let their concentration slip in their defensive duties with seven minutes remaining and Atalanta seized the moment.
The Italian side are in rich vein of form at the moment so this was always going to be a difficult examination for the Blues, but they will be disappointed to be leaving with no points after taking the early advantage.
But the broader context is that this continues Chelsea's concerning streak of results in all tournaments.
Since defeating the Spanish giants 3-0 at the close of November they are now winless in their last four outings.
Excessive Changes Turning Out to Be Costly?
Manager Enzo Maresca enacted five changes for this game as he persisted with his run of moving players in and out of the starting lineup.
The rotations here followed after he made the same number for the loss to Leeds and six for the draw with AFC Bournemouth prior to the journey to Bergamo.
The coach will view squad rotation as necessary as he attempts to handle players' fitness and compete both at home and in Europe, but he maintained the core group of players stays the same for key games.
"I think tonight [in] the starting lineup we had eight or nine players who played against Tottenham, FC Barcelona, and Arsenal," he said.
"If you see the five alterations that we did relative to the previous game it may be a change but it is the same eight or nine players who played Barcelona.
"The players who played tonight are the ones who feature in almost all the games."
What Next for These Teams?
The Blues' next European game sees them welcome the Cypriot side on the coming Wednesday (8pm GMT).
Atalanta, on the other hand, are at home to Athletic Bilbao at the same time.
