Chelsea's Automatic Qualification Ambitions Hit by Defeat at Atalanta
Match Summary
- Joao Pedro hands Chelsea the advantage in the first half.
- The Italian outfit the better side after the break and draw level through Gianluca Scamacca.
- The Belgian attacker scores a last-gasp winner for the home side.
- The defeat means Chelsea fall to 11th in the league phase of the tournament.
- The top eight qualify automatically for the last 16.
The London club's hopes of securing a place automatically for the Champions League knockout stages were suffered a setback as Atalanta came from behind to claim victory in Bergamo.
Both sides went into this match with matching points tallies in the league phase of this season's tournament, having won, drawn, and suffered one defeat to have accrued 10 points.
For large parts there was little to choose between them in this contest too, even though Chelsea went ahead in the opening 45 minutes when Joao Pedro converted Reece James' cross.
But The Serie A side always looked a danger going forwards, with former Premier League attacker creating issues for the backline.
James fired wide in the second half but the home team increased the intensity and justly equalised when former West Ham United striker Gianluca Scamacca a centering pass.
The winger drove a powerful shot straight at the keeper but they got the winner late on when the Blues defenders backed off Charles de Ketelaere, who made no mistake with a driven shot.
The visitors attempted to rescue a point late on but a excellent stop by Marco Carnesecchi denied Pedro.
The outcome means Chelsea fall out of the automatic qualification places—the spots that qualify automatically for the next round—to eleventh with two league phase games left to play.
The Bergamo club, in contrast, climb up to third, three points ahead of the Londoners.
Chelsea Analysis - Worrying Form Continues
This was a hugely frustrating outcome for Chelsea as even a point was keeping them well placed to achieve the top-eight finish they require to avoid the lottery of the qualifying play-off round.
But they lacked concentration in their defensive duties with seven minutes left on the clock 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 test for the visitors, but they will be frustrated to be leaving with nothing after taking the lead.
But the broader context is that this extends Chelsea's worrying run of form in all competitions.
Since beating the Spanish giants 3-0 at the close of November they are now winless in their last four matches.
Excessive Changes Proving Costly?
Chelsea boss Maresca made five changes for this match as he persisted with his run of rotating players in and out of the starting 11.
The rotations here came after he implemented the identical amount for the defeat to Leeds and six for the draw with Bournemouth prior to the journey to Atalanta.
Maresca will view squad rotation as vital as he attempts to manage players' fitness and compete both at domestically and abroad, but he stated the key nucleus of players stays the same for crucial fixtures.
"I think in this match [in] the first XI we had eight or nine players who played against Tottenham, Barcelona, and Arsenal," he commented.
"If you see the five changes 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 this evening are the individuals playing almost all the matches."
What Next for These Teams?
The Blues' next European game sees them host the Cypriot side on the coming Wednesday (8pm GMT).
The Italian team, on the other hand, host Athletic Club at the identical kick-off time.