Benfica v GIL Vicente — prediction, stats and goal analysis

Primeira Liga · Sunday, 13 September 2026. Final score 3–1 (half-time 1–1). 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 goals29%71%no pick
Both teams to score49%51%No

The result model puts Benfica at 56%, the draw at 25% and GIL Vicente at 19%, from expected goals of 1.67 and 0.88.

How we got this number

The league sets the starting point. Primeira Liga has produced over 2.5 goals in 54% of its matches, and that is where a team with no record of its own would sit.

Each side's own record. Benfica have 5 in 5 this season (2 of 2 at home), GIL Vicente 0 in 4 (0 of 1 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 62% and 46%.

Last season still counts, briefly. With 5 and 4 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 62% 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 57%.

Head to head. These sides have met 5 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 59%.

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 47%, from expected goals of 1.67 for Benfica and 0.88 for GIL Vicente. 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
Benfica5100%60%40%
GIL Vicente40%0%0%

Head to head

2 Mar 26GIL Vicente 1–2 BenficaO2.5
26 Sept 25Benfica 2–1 GIL VicenteO2.5
28 Mar 25GIL Vicente 0–3 BenficaO2.5
28 Sept 24Benfica 5–1 GIL VicenteO2.5
4 Feb 24Benfica 3–0 GIL VicenteO2.5
26 Aug 23GIL Vicente 2–3 BenficaO2.5

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