#INSERT type:image caption:Pastore and Argentina reached the Copa final, only to suffer an unexpected defeat. END#
Argentina midfielder Javier Pastore has told ESPN FC Argentina radio 107.9 it was "awful" to lose the Copa America final, adding that nobody expected his side to be beaten by Chile.
The favourites lost 4-1 on penalties after a goalless draw, and Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Pastore also revealed he had played through the effects of a calf injury suffered last season in order to try and help his team.
The 26-year-old said: "I got the chance to play, bank on myself and be a starter on such an important team as our national team.
"But on the other hand, it is awful to lose. No one ever expected to lose the Copa."
The Argentine media criticised the players, particularly captain Lionel Messi, after the defeat.
But Pastore said: "There will always be critics when you don't win, because this is the national team and we are obligated to win titles. We have to put that away and know how to manage it.
"I think it was very important to get to the final, because it had been a long time since we had even done that. So it has value but, in the end, you have to win in the final."
Pastore said he believed Argentina could have been hindered by their anxiety to make amends for the 2014 World Cup final defeat to Germany in Brazil.
"I think in the final, they [Chile] played into our need to win something," he explained.
"They made us play the match in a way that was different from the way we had been playing, and we made mistakes.
"We were all devastated. I saw all the faces, and I felt it much more from those that were coming from the World Cup [defeat]. Losing is always tough, and it is even worse when you lose two finals in a row."
Pastore will miss Argentina's friendly matches next months as he rests in an attempt to allow his calf problem to clear up, and explained: "The injury is coming along. I had it at the end of last season.
"It is in my calf, which is a strange muscle injury to come back from because the pain goes away and then four days later, when you want to run again, it returns and is bothersome.
"That is why the club decided to just stop everything for 15 days so that I could get better and then start the season without any problems."
Adding that it would be "sad" to miss the friendlies, he explained: "Those matches are always important. But it is all for the best so that I can have a healthy year and be in the next ones."