Libertad v Emelec — prediction, stats and goal analysis

Liga Pro · Friday, 4 September 2026. Final score 1–1 (half-time 1–0). Rebuilt from the season as it stood that morning, our rating would have been 42% 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 goals42%58%Under
Over 3.5 goals20%80%no pick
Both teams to score48%52%No

The result model puts Libertad at 56%, the draw at 27% and Emelec at 17%, from expected goals of 1.5 and 0.71.

How we got this number

The league sets the starting point. Liga Pro 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. Libertad have 12 in 27 this season (6 of 13 at home), Emelec 6 in 27 (2 of 13 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 44% and 32%.

Last season still counts, briefly. With 27 and 27 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 34%.

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 40%.

Head to head. These sides have met 5 times in three years, producing over 2.5 goals in 40%. 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 40%.

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 38%, from expected goals of 1.5 for Libertad and 0.71 for Emelec. Folding in 30% of that view gives 39%.

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 42%.

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
Libertad2744%19%44%
Emelec2722%7%41%

Head to head

10 May 26Emelec 1–1 LibertadU2.5
4 Aug 25Libertad 1–2 EmelecO2.5
12 Apr 25Emelec 1–1 LibertadU2.5
30 Nov 24Libertad 2–1 EmelecO2.5
2 Jun 24Emelec 0–0 LibertadU2.5
5 Aug 23Libertad 0–0 EmelecU2.5

More: Libertad season stats · Emelec season stats · Liga Pro table and form. Ratings are calibrated probabilities, not tips — a 60% call is expected to miss two times in five.