Lionel Messi accused the referee of bias after Argentina were beaten 2-0 by Brazil in the Copa América semi-final.

The Argentina captain felt a number of decisions went against his side in Belo Horizonte as goals from Gabriel Jesus and Roberto Firmino in each half put Brazil through to the final against Chile or Peru.

Messi was particularly aggrieved Argentina were not awarded a penalty by the Ecuadorian referee Roddy Zambrano immediately before Brazil’s second goal but that was only one of a number of complaints.

“They were not better than us. They found the net early and the second goal came from a penalty they didn’t award,” Messi said. “The officiating was crazy. There were clear penalties, on Nicolas Otamendi, on Sergio Agüero.

“He [the referee] was on their side. In every divided ball or dispute, he inclined the pitch their way. It’s not an excuse, but the truth is that, in this Copa, they kept on blowing for stupid things, for handballs, penalties. But today, they didn’t even go to VAR when there were clear plays that should have been looked at.”

Lionel Messi tries to get Argentina back into the game with one of his trademark free kicks. Photograph: Luis Acosta/AFP/Getty Images

Despite the result, Messi was proud of his teammates and believes there is a bright future ahead for Argentina.

The Barcelona striker said: “It was the best match we did in the Copa, against a Brazil that has spectacular players in all its lines. These guys made a huge sacrifice. They deserve respect. Argentina has the material to keep growing.”

Dani Alves admitted Brazil had needed to dig deep to secure the result. The captain said: “Argentina were a very difficult opponent. We needed to make a barbaric effort. It’s one more step towards our goal. Everything we aimed for from the beginning we are fulfilling but we knew it would not be easy. I think many people doubted us but we have a lot of trust in our work.”