Antonio Conte was furious after Chelsea’s defeat. (AFP/Getty Images)

Antonio Rudiger claims Chelsea’s players ‘gave up’ by half-time in their 3-0 defeat to Roma on Tuesday evening.

Antonio Conte’s side were behind inside a minute as Stephan El Shaarawy opened the scoring after 39 seconds.

And the Premier League champions were two goals down by the break after the Italy international netted his second of the game.

Diego Perotti rounded off Roma’s win in the second half, but Rudiger admits the morale of Chelsea’s players was already diminished.

Chelsea’s minds were down at half-time, claims Rudiger. (AFP/Getty Images)

‘It’s hard to find words, if you concede after one minute, it’s hard to tell, really hard to tell,’ the Germany international told beIN Sports.

‘You can lose, but in a proper way, we gave up after the 2-0.

‘We didn’t believe in it [coming back], the minds were down, the heads were down, a really disappointing evening, we have to say sorry for the fans who came with us for such a disappointing performance.’