Argentina managed just fine without injured captain Lionel Messi, beating Chile 2-1 in their Copa America opener on Monday night. Angel Di Maria scored his side’s first goal before dedicating the strike to his late grandmother, who passed away just hours before kick-off. Di Maria slotted home in the 51st minute after a fine through ball from Ever Banega, and then later turned provider himself, as Banega drilled low past Claudio Bravo to score his first ever goal in the competition.

Jose Pedro Fuenzalida pulled a consolation strike back for Chile in the third minute of stoppage time.

After his goal, Di Maria held up a T-shirt reading “Grandma, I’ll miss you very much,” after she died earlier on Monday. Argentina remain in search of their first major title since the 1993 Copa, after losing to Germany in the 2014 World Cup final.

“I am so happy because I was able to score. It was for my grandmother and my family that are having a difficult time,” Di Maria said. “In the morning when I knew what happened I knew that I would score today, and that happened, and it was for her. I was afraid of not playing, but if I didn’t play, my grandma was going to get mad.”

His coach didn’t even know until afterward and was impressed with Di Maria’s poise.

“Those are very important circumstances and aspects of life that transcend football,” Gerardo Martino said. “He didn’t tell me anything. He was feeling good to play. Not all people respond the same in those situations.”

A repeat of last year’s final, which Chile won on penalties, the game in Santa Clara was a heated affair with five yellow cards. Both teams had good chances in a fast-paced first half. Benfica’s Nicolas Gaitan, starting in place of Messi, forced a save from Bravo inside two minutes. Manchester United defender Marcos Rojo later went close with a header after Gonzalo Higuain struck his effort narrowly wide.

Higuain’s performance is thought to have been of interest to the watching Liverpool manager, Jurgen Klopp, who was in attendance at Levi’s Stadium.

Rojo’s Manchester United team-mate, Sergio Romero, made a great diving stop to prevent Alexis Sanchez finding the net after clever build-up play by Arturo Vidal, prompting Messi to applaud from the sidelines. Sanchez also worked Romero from a free-kick, about 25 yards from goal; most of Chile’s best attacking work involved the Arsenal forward.

Messi’s absence was unsurprising after the Barcelona star trained alone on Sunday following a recent back injury, although the forward was named among the substitutes.

Martino was optimistic Messi might be ready to return for Friday’s match against Panama in Chicago.

“Everything has to do with him being healthy and in good condition to play the next game,” Martino said. “We expect in four days he will be in condition to play. We’re thinking he will recover by then.”

Chile coach Juan Antonio Pizzi praised Gaitan for his performance. “The team is different if Messi is playing or not,” he said. “Messi’s probably more dangerous than any other soccer player. That’s an advantage we had. But the player who replaced Messi, Gaitan, played well. He has other virtues, other characteristics. He helped them have a better structure and made them a solid team. They were able to take advantage of their opportunity.”

Monday’s match in the San Francisco 49ers’ $1.3bn stadium attracted a sellout crowd of 69,451 ? outdrawing the tournament opener on Friday, in which Colombia beat the United States 2-0 and a crowd of 67,439 was announced.

In Group D’s other game, Panama won their first ever Copa America match, beating Bolivia 2-1 in a rain-soaked Orlando. Blas Perez scored two for Panama, including the 87th minute winner after Juan Carlos Arce had levelled things in the 54th. Panama, who finished third in last year’s Gold Cup after beating USA on penalties in the third-place playoff, are making their first appearance in Copa America.