Defensa Y Justicia v Boca Juniors — prediction, stats and goal analysis

Liga Profesional · Friday, 24 April 2026. Final score 0–4 (half-time 0–1). Rebuilt from the season as it stood that morning, our rating would have been 40% 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 goals40%60%Under
Over 3.5 goals18%82%no pick
Both teams to score46%54%No

The result model puts Defensa Y Justicia at 23%, the draw at 28% and Boca Juniors at 49%, from expected goals of 0.88 and 1.4.

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. Defensa Y Justicia have 4 in 14 this season (1 of 7 at home), Boca Juniors 3 in 14 (3 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 31% and 29%.

Last season still counts, briefly. With 14 and 14 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 32%.

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 100%. 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 37%.

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 40%, from expected goals of 0.88 for Defensa Y Justicia and 1.4 for Boca Juniors. Folding in 30% of that view gives 38%.

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 40%.

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
Defensa Y Justicia1429%21%57%
Boca Juniors1421%0%43%

Head to head

27 Sept 25Defensa Y Justicia 2–1 Boca JuniorsO2.5
16 Mar 25Boca Juniors 4–0 Defensa Y JusticiaO2.5
22 Jul 24Defensa Y Justicia 2–2 Boca JuniorsO2.5
7 Mar 23Boca Juniors 0–0 Defensa Y JusticiaU2.5
22 Aug 22Defensa Y Justicia 0–1 Boca JuniorsU2.5
11 May 22Boca Juniors 2–0 Defensa Y JusticiaU2.5

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