The Serie A outfit started well against their Premier League opponents and took the lead through Erik Lamela after 21 minutes, but Frank Lampard and a last-minute Romelu Lukaku effort gave Jose Mourinho's men victory.

Garcia felt that there were plenty of positives to take from the performance, with new signing Kevin Strootman looking lively in a creative midfield role.

However, the Roma boss admitted that his side still had plenty of work to do to build up their fitness ahead of the Serie A opener against Livorno on August 25.

"We had a good first half, keeping possession and creating a few good scoring opportunities," Garcia told the media following the defeat.

"In the second half, partly due to the number of changes in the sides, we were unable to play the same way. Chelsea made many substitutions and their players were more physically fresh.

"The only problem I saw in our second-half performance was fatigue. We were tired and therefore couldn’t keep the ball the same way as in the first half."