Atalanta continued their fine start to life under new manager Raffaele Palladino by claiming a comeback 2-1 victory over Chelsea in the latest round of Champions League matches.
Both sides started the game on 10 points from five matches, although Chelsea were higher in the standings due to their superior goal difference.
Atalanta started the game brightly and came close to taking the lead in the sixth through Ademola Lookman, who nearly snuck the ball in from a tight angle.
Albeit without necessarily putting Chelsea under any real threat, the hosts continued to dominate proceedings early on.
Lookman was denied for a second time on the day 19 minutes in by an excellent block from Josh Acheampong, with the Nigerian poised to fire home from close range.
Against the run of play and with the help of the Video Assistant Referee, Chelsea took the lead five minutes shy of the half-hour mark as Joao Pedro turned home Reece James’ low delivery into the box.
Following Chelsea’s opener, the game returned to its attritional nature with no attacking moment of note until the half-time whistle.
In stark contrast to the opening 45 minutes, Chelsea started the second period on the front foot as they looked to double their lead.
Enzo Maresca’s side should have edged further ahead in the early exchanges of the half, but skipper Reece James was unable to keep his effort on target from inside the area
Atalanta had the ball in the back of the net through Lookman shortly afterwards, only to be denied by a raised flag.
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The Serie A outfit were not going to be denied an equaliser in the 55th minute as Gianluca Scamacca headed home Charles De Ketelaere’s delivery.
Having deservingly gotten themselves back on level terms, Atalanta were in the ascendancy and looked set to continue their second-half exploits with all seven of their Champions League goals coming after the interval.
Chelsea needed Sanchez to be at his best to keep out Scamacca’s flick header just past the hour mark, and the visitors needed to regain a foothold on proceedings.
On as a substitute for Pedro Neto, Alejandro Garnacho fired straight at Marco Carnesecchi shortly after his introduction as Chelsea looked to wrestle back some control.
As the game headed into its final 10 minutes, neither team looked bent on settling for a point, with both still believing all three were possible.
However, it was Atalanta who grabbed the decisive third goal of the game through De Kataelare, leaving Chelsea in danger of losing a Champions League game in which they opened the scoring for the first time since 2014.
Garnacho drew another save out of Carnesecchi in the penultimate minute of normal time, after which James fired wide in the first of four stoppage-time minutes.
Pedro had the game’s final chance with virtually the last kick, but Carnesecchi was up to the task once again to see his side over the line.
La Dea have now picked up 13 points from a possible 18 to put themselves in pole position for a place in the knockout phase.
Chelsea, meanwhile, have now gone four games without a win since their 3-0 triumph over Barcelona, leaving the Blues in need of a pick-me-up.