Mascherano on Argentina losing Copa America final: 'The pain is immense and only gets worse'

Javier Mascherano might not wear Argentina's captain's armband, but there's no question he's one of the national team's natural leaders.

As such, it should come as no surprise that the 31-year-old holding midfielder was one of the few Argentinian players to talk to reporters after La Albiceleste fell to Chile on penalty kicks in the final of the Copa America.

His words - simply put - were heartbreaking.

"Losing is torture, it's a huge sadness," Mascherano said, according to the Guardian. "Everyone knows what I feel when I put this shirt on."

He continued: "We had a good Copa America, we played a final as visitors and were up to it. Again we lacked that quota of luck to win, I really can't find an explanation. I'm one of the oldest players in this squad. We have to accept what happened, unfortunately we couldn't give the fans what we wanted to."

After commenting that Chile had pressured and marked Argentina well, Mascherano added: "Chile are a very good team but I think we neutralised them, we played the match we wanted to ... We had moves to win it and unfortunately it wasn't to be. The pain is immense and only gets worse."

Argentina's loss marked the third time Mascherano's been on the losing side in the final of the Copa America. He was also on the pitch when Brazil captured the title in both 2004 and 2007.