Rosario Central v Sarmiento Junin — prediction, stats and goal analysis

Liga Profesional · Monday, 20 April 2026. Final score 2–1 (half-time 1–0). Rebuilt from the season as it stood that morning, our rating would have been 35% 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 goals35%65%Under
Over 3.5 goals14%86%no pick
Both teams to score41%59%No

The result model puts Rosario Central at 56%, the draw at 29% and Sarmiento Junin at 15%, from expected goals of 1.36 and 0.55.

How we got this number

The league sets the starting point. Liga Profesional has produced over 2.5 goals in 33% of its matches, and that is where a team with no record of its own would sit.

Each side's own record. Rosario Central have 6 in 13 this season (3 of 6 at home), Sarmiento Junin 5 in 13 (2 of 6 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 37% and 35%.

Last season still counts, briefly. With 13 and 13 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 35% and 31%.

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 33%.

Head to head. These sides have met 3 times in three years, producing over 2.5 goals in 33%. 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 33%.

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 30%, from expected goals of 1.36 for Rosario Central and 0.55 for Sarmiento Junin. Folding in 30% of that view gives 32%.

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 35%.

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
Rosario Central1346%8%54%
Sarmiento Junin1338%8%38%

Head to head

24 Oct 25Sarmiento Junin 0–1 Rosario CentralU2.5
23 Feb 25Rosario Central 1–0 Sarmiento JuninU2.5
20 Jul 24Rosario Central 4–2 Sarmiento JuninO2.5
3 Mar 23Sarmiento Junin 4–1 Rosario CentralO2.5
9 Jul 22Rosario Central 1–0 Sarmiento JuninU2.5

More: Rosario Central season stats · Sarmiento Junin season stats · Liga Profesional table and form. Ratings are calibrated probabilities, not tips — a 60% call is expected to miss two times in five.