Atalanta matchwinner Charles De Ketelaere has revealed the Chelsea weakness his side were always confident of exposing in last night’s shock Champions League victory.
Enzo Maresca’s side looked to be on course for a valuable three points when Joao Pedro opened the scoring in the 25th minute but a second half collapse saw the Blues sink to a damaging defeat.
With two games to play, the reigning Club World Cup holders are now facing an uphill battle to gain an automatic place in the last 16.
Chelsea took huge encouragement from their performance against Premier League pacesetters Arsenal earlier this month, but they have are now winless in four.
The nature of the loss in Bergamo was particularly concerning given they looked to be in control of a contest that ultimately saw them lose a 41-game run of remaining unbeaten in Champions League games in which they had led at half time.
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De Ketelaere, however, claimed his side had taken note of Chelsea’s recent leggy second half performances and after registering a goal and assist the Belgium international was happy to detail his side’s gameplan.
He said: ‘I think mentally we were really strong against a strong opponent but I think we knew maybe intensity-wise they drop a little bit in the second half.
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‘We saw that they get a lot of goals against in the second half so we kept strong. Also we felt good in the game and it paid off.’
Maresca, meanwhile admitted Chelsea ‘lost control’ of the match saying:’After the goal we conceded we lost control. Second half, we had two good chances to score the second goal. When we conceded the 1-1, we lost some concentration. We can avoid both of the goals we conceded. They’re easy goals.’
Chelsea had looked to be on top at the break and were heading towards the win that would have put them on the brink of an automatic place in the last 16.
The impressive Trevoh Chalobah, who had been booked, and Enzo Fernandez were then taken off which seemed to disturb the team’s rhythm and allow Atalanta back into it.
‘Both changes were because Trev and Enzo, they are playing every minute of every game,’ said Maresca.
‘They are both not 100 per cent. Trev was on a yellow card. This is the reason why we changed them.’
Chelsea are like to now need wins in both of their remaining fixtures.
The face Cypriot side Pafos at Stamford Bridge in January before finishing with a difficult trip to face Antonio Conte’s Serie A champions Napoli.
Fail to take maximum points and there will almost certainly be a play-off match to contend with in February, further complicating and already crowded schedule.
‘We are aware (how crowded their schedule will be with a play-off),” said Maresca. “Absolutely. Now the game is finished. The focus is on Saturday’s game (against Everton). We need to win games.
‘Probably we need two wins. Sixteen points might get you top eight, I’m not sure. The next one, for sure, if we want to finish top eight, we need to win both.’