San Lorenzo v Defensa Y Justicia — prediction, stats and goal analysis

Liga Profesional · Monday, 16 March 2026. Final score 2–5 (half-time 0–2). Rebuilt from the season as it stood that morning, our rating would have been 34% for over 2.5 goals. This match is older than our frozen ratings ledger, which keeps 30 days, so that figure is a reconstruction from pre-match data rather than a number we published at the time — a distinction worth making, because only the frozen ones prove what we actually said beforehand.

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Our ratings for this match

MarketYesNoOur call
Over 2.5 goals34%66%Under
Over 3.5 goals13%87%no pick
Both teams to score42%58%No

The result model puts San Lorenzo at 44%, the draw at 31% and Defensa Y Justicia at 25%, from expected goals of 1.17 and 0.82.

How we got this number

The league sets the starting point. Liga Profesional has produced over 2.5 goals in 32% of its matches, and that is where a team with no record of its own would sit.

Each side's own record. San Lorenzo have 1 in 9 this season (1 of 4 at home), Defensa Y Justicia 1 in 9 (1 of 4 away). Those records are pulled toward the league rate with the weight of about 24 matches — enough that two or three unusual games cannot swing a rating — giving 26% and 26%.

Last season still counts, briefly. With 9 and 9 games played this season, last season's rates are still blended in and fade out entirely by game 40 — the point at which our testing showed they stop adding accuracy. A single season is part luck, so each club's record is first pulled toward the league average by 34 games' weight. That moves the two figures to 28% and 34%.

The mix. Weighted 40% home side, 40% away side and 20% league — the split that beat every alternative across 30,582 matches of testing — that gives 31%.

Head to head. These sides have met 2 times in three years, producing over 2.5 goals in 0%. That nudges the number 5% of the way toward the head-to-head pattern — deliberately small, because fixtures change more than reputations do — landing on 30%.

Goal expectation. Separately a Poisson model built from attack and defence strength — using real expected-goals data where the league has it — puts this match at 32%, from expected goals of 1.17 for San Lorenzo and 0.82 for Defensa Y Justicia. Folding in 30% of that view gives 30%.

Calibration. Tested against 97,729 past matches, our ratings below 55% have run consistently too pessimistic — a figure in the high 30s, for instance, has come in about four points higher. So ratings in that range are lifted part-way back, giving 34%.

This breakdown is generated from the same inputs the rating uses, so it cannot describe a calculation we did not perform. The full model is set out in the methodology.

Season form

TeamGamesO2.5O3.5BTTS
San Lorenzo911%11%33%
Defensa Y Justicia911%11%56%

Head to head

22 Sept 24Defensa Y Justicia 0–0 San LorenzoU2.5
8 May 23San Lorenzo 0–0 Defensa Y JusticiaU2.5
5 Sept 22Defensa Y Justicia 0–0 San LorenzoU2.5
22 Feb 22San Lorenzo 3–4 Defensa Y JusticiaO2.5

More: San Lorenzo season stats · Defensa Y Justicia season stats · Liga Profesional table and form. Ratings are calibrated probabilities, not tips — a 60% call is expected to miss two times in five.