Atlanta v Atletico DE Rafaela — prediction, stats and goal analysis

Primera Nacional · Saturday, 16 May 2026. Final score 2–0 (half-time 1–0). Rebuilt from the season as it stood that morning, our rating would have been 33% 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 goals33%67%Under
Over 3.5 goals12%88%no pick
Both teams to score39%61%No

The result model puts Atlanta at 56%, the draw at 28% and Atletico DE Rafaela at 16%, from expected goals of 1.41 and 0.61.

How we got this number

The league sets the starting point. Primera Nacional has produced over 2.5 goals in 28% of its matches, and that is where a team with no record of its own would sit.

Each side's own record. Atlanta have 5 in 12 this season (3 of 7 at home), Atletico DE Rafaela 4 in 12 (2 of 5 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 33% and 30%.

Last season still counts, briefly. With 12 and 12 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 29% and 30%.

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 29%.

Head to head. These sides have met 3 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 28%.

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 33%, from expected goals of 1.41 for Atlanta and 0.61 for Atletico DE Rafaela. Folding in 30% of that view gives 29%.

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 33%.

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
Atlanta1242%17%42%
Atletico DE Rafaela1233%8%42%

Head to head

6 Oct 24Atletico DE Rafaela 2–0 AtlantaU2.5
19 May 24Atlanta 2–0 Atletico DE RafaelaU2.5
25 Jun 23Atletico DE Rafaela 1–0 AtlantaU2.5
21 Feb 23Atlanta 0–0 Atletico DE RafaelaU2.5
22 Aug 22Atlanta 0–0 Atletico DE RafaelaU2.5

More: Atlanta season stats · Atletico DE Rafaela season stats · Primera Nacional table and form. Ratings are calibrated probabilities, not tips — a 60% call is expected to miss two times in five.