The Blues came undone to a goal in either half at the Allianz Stadion in Austria, as Joelinton and Tomi Correa condemned Conte to defeat in his side's opening pre-season fixture.

Conte is unlikely to be too fazed by the setback, though, with Mike Buskens's charges far more advanced in their summer programme with this the final of their seven friendly outings - all of which have now ended in victory.

It was a dominant start to the game for Rapid, who were fast out of the blocks against a Chelsea side simply unable to get a foot on the ball.

The positive start told for the hosts just eight minutes in when, following some quick interplay on the edge of the box, Joelinton found himself through on goal and smartly rounded Asmir Begovic to roll the ball home.

Chelsea responded well enough by slowly working their way up the field under instruction from the vocal Conte, and they were nearly level after Willian's cross was turned inches wide of his own net by Srdjan Grahovac.

Diego Costa also worked a yard of space on the counter in the Blues' only other opening of the first half, but the Spain international left himself with too much to do in the end and could only blast wide of the far post.

It was Rapid who looked the more likely to add a second, though - Steffen Hofmann seeing his volleyed attempt pushed aside by Begovic, while Joelinton's well-struck attempt was parried by the Chelsea stopper before being cleared to safety.

Conte made just the two changes at the break, introducing Ola Aina and Oscar in place of Baba Rahman and Ruben Loftus-Cheek, but it did not really have the desired impact.

Chelsea continued to struggle when it came to making any sort of clear-cut chance, although their opponents also lost their passing groove in a tame opening quarter to the second period.

There was a big opportunity for Costa to break the Blues' duck shortly after the hour mark, only for the lone striker to send his headed attempt from a Papy Djilobodji cross sailing over the crossbar.

Victor Moses, arguably the Premier League outfit's best player at this stage last year, showed the odd glimmer of hope down the left flank and sent in one ball which Costa could not quite slide in and convert.

Stand-in Rapid keeper Richard Strebinger was finally tested for the first time 69 minutes in when substitute Nathaniel Chalobah let fly from 30 yards out, forcing a smart stop to deny Chelsea an equaliser.

The Green-Whites began to invite pressure onto themselves in the closing stages of the contest, which almost proved costly when Aina sent in a cross from deep that went right the way through and back off the post.

For all of Chelsea's pressing, it was Rapid substitute Correa who tapped in a killer second after Branislav Ivanovic's weak pass was pounced on to give the Austrian outfit a perfect pre-season record.