Corinthians v Flamengo — prediction, stats and goal analysis

Serie A · Sunday, 22 March 2026. Final score 1–1 (half-time 1–1). Rebuilt from the season as it stood that morning, our rating would have been 49% 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.

Open this match in the app →

Our ratings for this match

MarketYesNoOur call
Over 2.5 goals49%51%Under
Over 3.5 goals25%75%no pick
Both teams to score50%50%Yes

The result model puts Corinthians at 22%, the draw at 25% and Flamengo at 53%, from expected goals of 0.99 and 1.68.

How we got this number

The league sets the starting point. Serie A has produced over 2.5 goals in 46% of its matches, and that is where a team with no record of its own would sit.

Each side's own record. Corinthians have 1 in 7 this season (1 of 3 at home), Flamengo 4 in 6 (3 of 3 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 39% and 50%.

Last season still counts, briefly. With 7 and 6 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 44% and 48%.

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 46%.

Head to head. These sides have met 6 times in three years, producing over 2.5 goals in 50%. 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 46%.

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 50%, from expected goals of 0.99 for Corinthians and 1.68 for Flamengo. Folding in 30% of that view gives 47%.

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 49%.

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
Corinthians714%0%43%
Flamengo667%0%50%

Head to head

29 Sept 25Corinthians 1–2 FlamengoO2.5
27 Apr 25Flamengo 4–0 CorinthiansO2.5
1 Sept 24Corinthians 2–1 FlamengoO2.5
11 May 24Flamengo 2–0 CorinthiansU2.5
8 Oct 23Corinthians 1–1 FlamengoU2.5
21 May 23Flamengo 1–0 CorinthiansU2.5

More: Corinthians season stats · Flamengo season stats · Serie A table and form. Ratings are calibrated probabilities, not tips — a 60% call is expected to miss two times in five.