The match ended 0-0 after 90 minutes and a further 30 minutes couldn’t separate the sides with Chile winning the resulting penalty shoot-out 4-1.
Sergio Aguero, Pablo Zabaleta and Martin Demichelis were all named in Argentina’s starting line-up as the beaten World Cup finalists looked to win their first trophy for 22 years.
With a red-hot partisan home crowd in Santiago, La Albiceleste may have started as the bookies’ favourites, but the pumped-up hosts were determined to land their first ever Copa America title.
The game started at a breakneck speed with Aguero unlucky not to get on the end of a clever Lionel Messi pass after just six minutes, while Chile caused problems with their early probing, usually instigated by Arsenal’s Alexis Sanchez.
Aguero was the denied another headed goal when he glanced Messi’s free-kick towards goal from close range but Claudio Bravo was alive to the danger and palmed the effort away.
Zabaleta was linking up well with Messi down the right flank throughout the first-half, though there was no clear-cut chance for either side in a goalless first period.
The second-half was similar fare, with neither side able to create a sustained period of pressure and Aguero’s frustrating evening ended on 71 minutes when he was replaced by Gonzalo Higuain.
Higuain missed Argentina’s best chance in the dying seconds and it was to prove costly as extra time again produced no goals and Chile kept their cool in the penalty shoot-out, winning 4-1 to send the home fans wild.
