'Now he knows who we are' - Charles De Ketelaere roasts Alejandro Garnacho for pre-match dig at Atalanta after Chelsea slip to shock Champions League defeat

Everything was going swimmingly for Chelsea when they went 1-0 up on Tuesday night thanks to Joao Pedro's 25th-minute strike. The Blues looked well on course to follow up their impressive thrashing of Barcelona last time out in the competition with another victory, but a limp second-half performance resulted in goals from Gianluca Scamacca and De Ketelaere, handing manager Enzo Maresca a defeat on his return to his homeland. They now sit 11th in the league phase table but will likely drop lower with a whole slate of fixtures set to be played on Wednesday.

Garnacho had been criticised by sections of the Italian media after admitting he had not watched much of Atalanta of late, stating: "The last time I saw Atalanta was two years ago, in the Europa League final they won."

That game was a historic one for Atalanta as they won just their second ever piece of major silverware, having previously lifted the Coppa Italia trophy all the way back in 1963.

In his defence, the former Manchester United winger did also say: "Obviously, every game is important. We know when we play away it’s a little bit harder, but in the Champions League every team can beat you. 

"It’s a big opportunity for us to get the three points and I think we’re going to be there in the top. We are focused on the game, like every game, and just to win. 

"We expect a strong team and a difficult match. We play away, they have their fans, so it’s not going to be easy, but we have come here and we will try to do our work to get the three points and take them home."

Garnacho wasn't included in the starting XI, instead being introduced from the bench in the 67th minute as the visiting side chased a winner shortly after Scamacca's equaliser. 

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Having clearly heard what Garnacho had to say about his team before the match, De Ketelaere took the opportunity to goad the Chelsea star after scoring the winner at Stadio di Bergamo.

Speaking shortly after full-time, the Belgium international quipped to Sky Italia: "Now he knows who we are. For us, it's not possible to play games like Saturday's against Verona and then maybe win a match like today. We need to improve our consistency.

"We were coming off three wins and then there was this bad defeat, but we know we have great quality, and we proved it today.

"The most prestigious victory for us was the one in Dublin (the Europa League final in 2024), but if we want to play these games next year too, we need to do well."

Maresca claimed his side could have avoided the defeat, stating: "After the goal we conceded, we lost control. Second half, we had two good chances to score the second one. When we conceded the 1-1, we lost some concentration. We can avoid both of the goals we conceded. They're easy goals.

"For sure, we conceded two goals that for me we can avoid. When you concede, the first one is the moment when you can't lose the control of the game but I have a feeling that we lost the control of the game after the goal we conceded."

There is little time for Chelsea to lick their wounds, however. They host Everton and then visit Cardiff City in the Carabao Cup before clashes with Newcastle United, Aston Villa, Bournemouth and Manchester City during the festive period. They'll look to push closer towards the Champions League's top eight places in their last two league phase games against Pafos and Napoli.