2 days ago
8
There were no answers to Chelsea’s search for consistency here. Instead there was a late, potentially damaging defeat that leaves them staring down the barrel of a February playoff for the last 16, along with further suggestions they lack what it takes to face down a tough away assignment at this level.
Enzo Maresca’s side looked well set when João Pedro scored against the run of play after 25 minutes. Atalanta had begun to flounder before Gianluca Scamacca’s leveller but grew in strength and Chelsea sank when Charles De Ketelaere drove in seven minutes from time, completing a torrid week on the road.
If it had been tricky to gauge which version of Chelsea would turn up, the same could be said of their hosts. Held up by Maresca before the match as a glowing beacon amid the faltering fortunes of Italy’s major powers, they have fallen to mid-table in Serie A this season while prospering in Europe. Their former manager Gian Piero Gasperini, now with Roma, forged miracles here; in appointing one of his proteges, Raffaele Palladino, to replace the hapless Ivan Juric last month the hope locally was that the old magic could be recaptured.
They may have sensed blood in the water given Maresca characteristically rolled the dice, making five changes from the goalless trudge at Bournemouth. Cole Palmer, freshly back, was kept at home to avoid overexertion; Josh Acheampong was granted a first Champions League start at right-back in a reshuffled defence; and João Pedro led the line in the absence of Liam Delap, whose shoulder injury will sideline him for around a month.
Atalanta duly made the more coherent start. It almost brought a goal within six minutes when Ademola Lookman, still starring here despite seeking to leave in the summer, wriggled inside from the left and forced Robert Sánchez to block an angled effort with his legs. De Ketelaere, following up, could not quite adjust his legs in time to bury the rebound.
Jamie Gittens, entering the Atalanta box after collecting a well-weighted diagonal pass from Acheampong, tumbled under the attention of Raoul Bellanova but any appeals for a penalty were half-hearted. Bellanova, the right wing-back, was next involved at the other end but appeared to pick up an injury in the act of crossing. He was replaced by Davide Zappacosta, a blast from Chelsea’s late-2010s past.
Almost immediately Zappacosta centred and, via a Scamacca flick, Lookman was denied at point-blank range by Acheampong’s block. Marten de Roon lifted the loose ball over and, despite a string of stoppages in the opening quarter breaking Atalanta’s rhythm, Chelsea were living dangerously.
When they did string a move together, they made it count. The flag was initially raised when João Pedro neatly snicked in a low cross from Reece James, who had been sent to the left byline in a short-corner routine. But replays immediately made clear that the decision would not survive a video assistant referee check and, within a minute, their lead was confirmed. It was the Brazilian’s first goal since 8 November, also breaking his duck in this competition.
Now Chelsea could settle. Atalanta were not given another serious sniff before half-time, finding their opponents a more controlled proposition on the ball and falling foul of a well-functioning offside trap more than once. By the interval, those early insecurities appeared long distant.
Maresca replaced Trevoh Chalobah with Wesley Fofana for the second half, having spent the latter stages of the first giving instructions to the substitute. This time Chelsea came out sharper, Enzo Fernández almost being sent through by a smart Gittens pass and James drilling inches wide at the second attempt from 18 yards. Then Gittens warmed Marco Carnesecchi’s palms after cutting inside and, at that point, the game’s second goal seemed eminently possible.
after newsletter promotion
It came soon enough, but to Atalanta’s credit. The execution was maddeningly simple from a Chelsea viewpoint, De Ketelaere delivering from the right with little opposition and the hulking Scamacca somehow escaping the centre-backs to nod past a helpless Sánchez. The sequence was hardly of a piece with Chelsea’s diligence since going ahead.
With that, the tone transformed. Scamacca headed on a whipped left-sided cross and Sánchez was forced to scoop away with other attackers lurking. A previously becalmed arena bayed for another scalp to join the collection Atalanta have amassed in becoming a European force.
Another defensive change from Chelsea, Fofana’s involvement ending in the 76th minute having earlier been caught accidentally on the head by Scamacca, may have encouraged them further. De Ketelaere, the game’s best player, quickly took the hint.
He had recently pinged a glorious left-footed pass to Lookman; now he drove forward from midway inside Chelsea’s half and, with Marc Cucurella and Benoît Badiashile inexplicably backing off, drilled in via a deflection off the Spaniard. Home comforts cannot come quickly enough for Maresca.
English (US)