Peru defender Carlos Zambrano offered an apology to his country and his fans on Tuesday after Chile's 2-1 win over 10-man Peru in the semifinals of the Copa America on Monday.
Zambrano, 25, was sent off in the 20th minute after cleanly clearing the ball but landing an exaggerated studs-up follow-through into the small of Charles Aranguiz's back. The incident earned the Eintracht Frankfurt defender a straight red card and Chile's Arturo Vidal blasted the free-kick straight into the wall.
"Sure, now I am the villain in the movie! If you are all hurting, imagine how I am feeling!!! I am the first to accept before everyone in the country that I wrecked it for my country! But that is enough already! That is the way football is and our 10-man team fought and left everything on the pitch so thank some folks for their support at that time.
"The criticism is understandable and to be a gentleman is to take it and that is how most of us Peruvians are! We want everything to be perfect! We are the first ones to want to bring joy to our country and we are the ones on the field defending our country! Just the same I have to thank God for each moment of my life!!! God is love"
A photo posted by Carlos Zambrano (@carloszambrano5) on
With the semifinal win on Monday, Chile have now won 10 of their last 11 meetings against Peru in all competitions. Chile have not lost to Peru in Copa America competition since 1993. Eduardo Vargas' two goals in Chile's win brought his tournament-high total to four, making Vargas the first Chilean with four goals in a single Copa America since Ivan Zamorano in 1991.
Peru were trying to win their third Copa America and first since 1975. The team also lost in the semifinals in 2011 to eventual champions Uruguay and finished third.
The Chileans have been dominant from the start of this year's tournament, playing at home with its best team in years. But Peru made it difficult for the hosts at the Estadio Nacional on Monday, threatening several times on the counter-attack even after going a man down.
"The ejection seemed to hurt us more than it hurt them," Chile coach Jorge Sampaoli said. "The anxiety turned against us and we ended struggling.''
Vargas opened the scoring off a rebound. Alexis Sanchez's curling shot from outside the area struck the far post and returned straight to Vargas, who rolled it into the net.
The striker appeared to be slightly offside at the time of Sanchez's shot, but the referee let the goal stand.
Peru equalised when Medel tried to intercept a right-side cross by Luis Advincula and put it into his own net. Five minutes later, however, Vargas gave Chile the lead again, sending a right-footed shot from outside the area over Peru goalkeeper Pedro Gallese, who was out of position.
Vargas also had a goal disallowed for offside in the 49th, though the replay showed he appeared to be in good position to score.
Peru had the game's first chance of the match with a dangerous header by forward Jefferson Farfan in the ninth minute. The ball struck the post with Chile goalkeeper Claudio Bravo already beaten on the play.
"We leave with a sour taste after the elimination, we wanted to reach this final,'' Peru coach Ricardo Gareca said. "It's very difficult to play a man down for so long against a team of this level.''
Peru had been the surprise of the tournament after advancing from a group that included Brazil and Colombia.
"We fought until the end,'' Peru striker Paolo Guerrero said. "We fought until the last minute and if we had stayed 11 against 11 the story could have been different."
Information from Press Association and The Associated Press was used in this report.