Deportivo Maldonado v Club Nacional — prediction, stats and goal analysis

Primera Division · Sunday, 31 May 2026. Final score 3–0 (half-time 0–0). Rebuilt from the season as it stood that morning, our rating would have been 55% 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 goals55%45%Over
Over 3.5 goals33%67%no pick
Both teams to score59%41%Yes

The result model puts Deportivo Maldonado at 32%, the draw at 23% and Club Nacional at 45%, from expected goals of 1.59 and 1.9.

How we got this number

The league sets the starting point. Primera Division has produced over 2.5 goals in 44% of its matches, and that is where a team with no record of its own would sit.

Each side's own record. Deportivo Maldonado have 9 in 17 this season (5 of 8 at home), Club Nacional 11 in 17 (8 of 9 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 48% and 53%.

Last season still counts, briefly. With 17 and 17 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 48% and 53%.

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 49%.

Head to head. These sides have met 3 times in three years, producing over 2.5 goals in 67%. 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 50%.

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 68%, from expected goals of 1.59 for Deportivo Maldonado and 1.9 for Club Nacional. Folding in 30% of that view gives 55%.

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
Deportivo Maldonado1753%24%65%
Club Nacional1765%35%59%

Head to head

11 Apr 26Deportivo Maldonado 4–2 Club NacionalO2.5
21 May 24Deportivo Maldonado 0–2 Club NacionalU2.5
17 Jun 23Club Nacional 4–0 Deportivo MaldonadoO2.5
18 Mar 23Deportivo Maldonado 0–0 Club NacionalU2.5
6 Feb 22Club Nacional 2–3 Deportivo MaldonadoO2.5

More: Deportivo Maldonado season stats · Club Nacional season stats · Primera Division table and form. Ratings are calibrated probabilities, not tips — a 60% call is expected to miss two times in five.