The Blues' Qualification Hopes Hit by Defeat at Atalanta
At a Glance
- The Chelsea forward hands Chelsea the advantage in the opening period.
- Atalanta the stronger side after the interval and equalise through Gianluca Scamacca.
- The Belgian attacker scores a last-gasp winner for the home side.
- Loss means Chelsea drop to eleventh place in the group stage of the tournament.
- The leading eight teams qualify automatically for the knockouts.
Chelsea's chances of qualifying automatically for the European Cup knockouts were dealt a blow as their Italian opponents overturned a deficit to win in Bergamo.
Both sides entered this match with matching records in the initial stage of this season's tournament, having won, drawn, and lost to have accrued ten points.
For extended periods there was not much to choose between them in this contest too, even though Chelsea went ahead in the opening 45 minutes when the Brazilian finished Reece James' cross.
But The Serie A side remained a threat going forwards, with former Premier League attacker causing issues for the backline.
Reece James fired wide in the after the break but the home team increased the pressure and justly levelled when ex-West Ham striker Gianluca Scamacca a cross.
The winger drove a strong effort straight at the goalkeeper but they got the winner in the closing stages when the Chelsea defence backed off the midfielder, who seized the opportunity with a driven strike.
The visitors tried to salvage a point in stoppage time but a superb stop by Marco Carnesecchi kept out Joao Pedro.
The outcome means Chelsea slip out of the top eight—the positions that qualify automatically for the knockouts—to eleventh with two league phase matches remaining.
The Bergamo club, meanwhile, climb up to third place, three points ahead of the Londoners.
Blues Breakdown - Worrying Run Persists
This was a hugely frustrating outcome for Chelsea as even a draw was keeping them well placed to achieve the top-eight finish they require to bypass the lottery of the play-offs.
But they lost focus in defence with seven minutes remaining and their opponents capitalised completely.
The Italian side 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 frustrated to be leaving with no points after securing the lead.
But the broader context is that this continues Chelsea's troubling sequence of form in all tournaments.
Since beating Barcelona 3-0 at the close of November they are now without a win in their last four outings.
Excessive Changes Proving Expensive?
Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca made five rotations for this match as he persisted with his policy of moving players in and out of the first team.
The changes here followed after he implemented the same number for the defeat to Leeds and six for the draw with Bournemouth prior to the journey to Bergamo.
Maresca will see squad rotation as essential as he tries to handle players' workloads and compete both at domestically and abroad, but he stated the core group of players stays the unchanged for crucial games.
"I believe in this match [in] the first XI we had eight or nine players who featured against Tottenham Hotspur, Barcelona, and the Gunners," he commented.
"If you look at the five alterations that we did compared to the previous game it is a change but it involves the eight or nine players who played in that match.
"The ones who took to the field tonight are the individuals playing almost all the games."
What's Next for These Clubs?
The Blues' next Champions League fixture sees them welcome Pafos on Wednesday, 21 January (20:00 GMT).
Atalanta, on the other hand, are at home to Athletic Club at the same time.
