Diego Costa fights referee as Chelsea lose first game under Conte

Chelsea have lost their first game under new manager Antonio Conte. The Blues were beaten 2-0 in a friendly against Austrian side Rapid Wien, with Diego Costa getting furious just after 13 minutes.

The very temperamental Costa charged at a player after he was fouled and also exhibited his usual anger towards the centre-referee. Goals from Joelinton and Tomi Correa saw the Austrians emerge victorious, as Chelsea lost their first pre-season game ahead of the 2016/2017 season.

Chelsea started the Antonio Conte era with a disappointing 2-0 pre-season friendly defeat at Rapid Vienna on Saturday, July 16, at the Aliianz Stadium, Vienna. Recall that the Italian was chosen as the full-time successor to Jose Mourinho, who was sacked in December, with Guus Hiddink having led Chelsea to a 10th-place finish as interim boss during a disappointing Premier League title defence last season.

Although, the Blues were without first-team regulars due to their participation at the just concluded Euro 2016,. A well-worked passing move on the edge of the penalty area resulted in Joelinton rounding the Chelsea goalkeeper and converting into the empty goal before teenage substitute Ola Aina almost levelled with a fortuitous cross-shot that evaded everyone and hit the right-hand post, but Rapid doubled the lead late on.

Begovic pulled off a smart stop from Stefan Nutz, but there was nothing he could do to prevent Tomi poking in from close range. It ended Rapid Wien 2-0 Chelsea.  Conte’s men will continue their pre-season games on July 20 when they face Wolfsberger AC in Klagenfurt, Austria.