Chelsea player ratings vs Atalanta: Attackers struggle in Champions League defeat | OneFootball

Chelsea suffered a 2-1 Champions League defeat to Atalanta on Tuesday, as they dropped out of the top eight of the league phase table.

It looked very promising in the first half for the Blues.

Chelsea took an early lead after VAR deemed Joao Pedro onside when converting a square pass from Reece James in the 25th minute.

The visitors struggled to dominate the midfield like they usually do, but they were at least up by a goal at half-time.

It took Atalanta just 10 minutes after the break to find the equaliser through Gianluca Scamacca's free header.

IMAGO / IPA Sport

Enzo Maresca then made an interesting decision to replace Enzo Fernandez, who was clearly struggling in the game, with Malo Gusto.

This meant Chelsea had two right-backs, Gusto and Reece James, operating in midfield.

Gusto operated as a number 10, while James and Moises Caicedo played behind him.

IMAGO / IPA Sport

It got worse for Chelsea. Wesley Fofana, who entered the pitch after the break in place of Trevoh Chalobah, was forced off the pitch for an unfortunate eye injury, having spent just about half an hour on the pitch.

Tosin Adarabioyo came in as a replacement, and six minutes later, Chelsea conceded another goal. This time it is Atalanta's in-form attacking midfielder Charles Ketelaere.

It was not necessarily Adarabioyo's fault, as the ball deflected off Marc Cucurella's boot before reaching the net. Still, the defensive substitutions made it hard for the defenders to find a rhythm.

Here are the Chelsea player ratings vs Atalanta, according to SofaScore:

Starting XI

Robert Sanchez: 7.7

Josh Acheampong: 6.7

Trevoh Chalobah: 7.2

Benoit Badiashile: 6.9

Marc Cucurella: 6.2

Moises Caicedo: 6.9

Reece James: 7.1

Pedro Neto: 6.6

Enzo Fernandez: 6.3

Jamie Gittens: 6.2

Joao Pedro: 6.6

Substitutes:

Wesley Fofana: 6.6

Alejandro Garnacho: 6.6

Malo Gusto: 6.2

Tosin Adarabioyo: 6.2

Following this defeat, Chelsea have now dropped to 11th place in the Champions League table with 10 points, and could sit lower depending on Wednesday's results.

Chelsea still have two league phase matches, however, which they would likely have to win if they were to finish in the top eight and secure an automatic qualification to the knock-out stages.

These are a home match against Pafos on January 21 and an away match against Napoli on January 28.