The Blues' Automatic Qualification Ambitions Hit by Defeat at Bergamo

Key Moments

• The Chelsea forward hands Chelsea the lead in the first half.
• The Italian outfit the stronger side after the break and draw level through Gianluca Scamacca.
• Charles de Ketelaere scores a last-gasp decisive goal for the home side.
• Loss means Chelsea slide to 11th in the league phase of the tournament.
• The leading eight teams qualify automatically for the last 16.

Chelsea's ambitions of qualifying automatically for the European Cup knockouts were hit hard as their Italian opponents fought back to win in Bergamo.

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

For much of the game there was very little to distinguish them in this contest too, although Chelsea got their noses in front in the opening 45 minutes when the Brazilian converted Reece James' cross.

But Atalanta remained a threat going forwards, with ex- Premier League attacker Ademola Lookman issues for the backline.

Reece James fired wide in the second half but the home team increased the pressure and rightfully equalised when former West Ham United striker Gianluca Scamacca a cross.

The winger hammered a strong effort straight at the goalkeeper but they got the decisive strike late on when the Chelsea defence retreated from Charles de Ketelaere, who took full advantage with a driven strike.

Chelsea tried to salvage a draw late on but a superb save by Marco Carnesecchi kept out Joao Pedro.

The result means Chelsea slip out of the top eight—the spots that progress automatically for the knockouts—to 11th with two group stage games left to play.

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

Blues Breakdown - Concerning Run Continues

This was a extremely frustrating outcome for Chelsea as even a draw was keeping them well placed to achieve the top eight finish they require to avoid the uncertainty of the play-offs.

But they lacked concentration in their defensive duties with seven minutes left on the clock and their opponents capitalised completely.

The Italians are in fine fettle at the moment so this was always going to be a challenging examination for the Blues, but they will be disappointed to be departing with no points after taking the lead.

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

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

Too Many Changes Turning Out to Be Expensive?

Chelsea boss Maresca enacted five alterations for this match as he continued his strategy of moving players in and out of the starting lineup.

The rotations here came after he made the identical amount for the loss to Leeds United and six for the draw with Bournemouth prior to the trip to Atalanta.

Maresca will view rotation as necessary as he tries to manage players' workloads and challenge both at domestically and in Europe, but he stated the central contingent of players stays the same for key fixtures.

"I believe tonight [in] the starting lineup we had eight or nine players who featured against Tottenham, FC Barcelona, and the Gunners," he stated.

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

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

Up Next for These Teams?

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

Atalanta, meanwhile, host Athletic Club at the identical kick-off time.