Chelsea's Hopes Suffer a Setback by Defeat at Bergamo
Key Moments
- Joao Pedro gives Chelsea the advantage in the first half.
- The Italian outfit the better side after the interval and equalise through the striker.
- Charles de Ketelaere scores a late decisive goal for the home side.
- Loss means Chelsea slide to 11th in the league phase of the Champions League.
- The top eight qualify automatically for the last 16.
Chelsea's chances of securing a place automatically for the European Cup knockout stages were hit hard as Atalanta overturned a deficit to win in their home stadium.
The two teams entered this fixture with matching records in the league phase of this season's competition, having secured three victories, drawn, and lost to be on ten points.
For extended periods there was little to separate them in this encounter too, even though Chelsea went ahead in the opening 45 minutes when Joao Pedro finished Reece James' delivery.
But The Serie A side remained a threat going forward, with former Premier League attacker Ademola Lookman issues for the defence.
Reece James fired wide in the second half but Atalanta upped the intensity and justly levelled when ex-West Ham striker headed in a centering pass.
The winger hammered a powerful shot straight at the keeper but they scored the winner in the closing stages when the Chelsea defenders backed off the midfielder, who took full advantage with a low strike.
The visitors attempted to rescue a draw in stoppage time but a superb save by Marco Carnesecchi denied Pedro.
The result means Chelsea fall out of the top eight—the spots that progress automatically for the next round—to eleventh with two group stage fixtures left to play.
Atalanta, meanwhile, leap 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 leaving them in a strong position to secure the top-eight position they require to bypass the uncertainty of the qualifying play-off round.
But they lacked concentration in their defensive duties with seven minutes left on the clock and Atalanta took full advantage.
The Italian side are in rich vein of form at the moment so this was always going to be a challenging test for the Blues, but they will be annoyed to be leaving with no points after securing the lead.
But the wider issue is that this continues Chelsea's concerning sequence of form in all tournaments.
Since beating Barcelona 3-0 at the end of November they are now winless in their last four games.
Too Many Rotations Turning Out to Be Costly?
Manager Enzo Maresca enacted five alterations for this match as he continued his run of moving players in and out of the first team.
The changes here followed after he made the same number for the defeat to Leeds United and six for the tie with AFC Bournemouth prior to the journey to Atalanta.
The coach will view squad rotation as essential as he tries to handle players' fitness and challenge both at home and abroad, but he stated the key nucleus of players remains the same for important fixtures.
"I think in this match [in] the starting lineup we had eight or nine players who featured against Tottenham Hotspur, FC Barcelona, and Arsenal," he commented.
"If you see the five changes that we did compared to Bournemouth it is different but it is the same eight or nine players who played Barcelona.
"The players who took to the field this evening are the individuals playing almost all the games."
Up Next for These Sides?
The Blues' next European fixture sees them host the Cypriot side on Wednesday, 21 January (8pm GMT).
The Italian team, on the other hand, host Athletic Club at the identical kick-off time.
