La Liga · Spain · Regular Season - 2

Elche–Barcelona

0–5

HT 0–2

Kick-off: Sunday, 23 August 2026 at 19:30
Status: Match Finished

What the model said, and what happened

Prediction correct

This verdict goes into the public record unchanged; we do not filter out the ones we get wrong. The model's track record

Goals and red cards

14'BarcelonaRaphinha (penalty)
45'BarcelonaK. Adeyemi (assist: Raphinha)
67'BarcelonaRaphinha (assist: A. Gordon)
71'BarcelonaFermín (assist: A. Gordon)
79'BarcelonaFermín (assist: X. Espart)

Match statistics

Match statistics
Elche		Barcelona
7	Shots	11
2	Shots on target	7
5	Shots inside the box	10
2	Goalkeeper saves	2
3	Corners	1
3	Offsides	3
45%	Possession	55%
402	Passes	500
318	Accurate passes

What we expected, and what happened

Expected goals before kick-off: Elche 1.07 · Barcelona 2.00. On the pitch: 0-5.
Shots Elche 7 · Barcelona 11; on target 2 and 7.
Barcelona kept the ball more (55%).

Unavailable players

Elche

A. Boayarout · Muscle Injury
Y. Santiagoout · Knee Injury

Barcelona

Alejandro Baldeout · Coach's decision
F. de Jongout · Knee Injury
H. Fortout · Coach's decision
J. Bisiwuout · not in squad
Marc Casadóout · Coach's decision
R. Bardghjiout · Knee Injury
Rodriout · Lacking Match Fitness

Provider data — may change until the line-ups are announced. Last updated: Wednesday, 16 September 2026 at 15:10.

Referee

Alejandro Quintero Gonzalez, Spain→

5.00

yellows per match

0.90

reds per match

matches of data

10 matches is a small sample — these averages are noisy and should not be read as a tendency.

Model prediction

Why this prediction?

The model puts the most likely outcome at 72.4%: “Barcelona to win”. Second comes “a draw” at 17.4%.
Behind that distribution are the expected goals: 0.87 for Elche, 2.43 for Barcelona.
The highest double chance value is 89.8% (X2 — draw or Barcelona win).
These values were computed from 1,533 past matches.

This is a prediction, not a guarantee; a probability is not a certainty.

These sentences are built by a fixed template; every number in them comes straight from the model's computation, none invented while the text was written.

Elche to win10.2%

Draw17.4%

Barcelona to win72.4%

When the model has said 70–75% in the past, 559 of 731 predictions were correct (76.5%). Accuracy record →

12	Fouls	11

1	Yellow cards	0

0	Red cards	0

The measurements our data provider sent for this match. A row that was not measured shows “—”; writing 0 into an empty field would claim we measured it and found none.

When the model has said 55–60% in the past, 2,565 of 4,457 predictions were correct (57.5%). Accuracy record →

Double chance

1X — Elche win or draw27.6%

12 — any result other than a draw82.6%

X2 — draw or Barcelona win89.8%

These three values add up to 200%, not 100% — and that is not a mistake. The options are not mutually exclusive; every outcome is counted in two of them. For the same reason 1X plus X2 exceeds 100% by exactly the probability of a draw (17.4%).

First half

Actual: 0–2

Elche lead at half-time16.7%

Level at half-time39.7%

Barcelona lead at half-time43.6%

First-half double chance

1X — Elche ahead or level56.4%

12 — not level at half-time60.3%

X2 — level or Barcelona ahead83.3%

These values are not a fraction of the full-match prediction; they come from a separate model trained on the first-half scores of 1533 matches. Its edge over the base rate is markedly smaller than the full-match model's — the measured figure is on the accuracy record. Read them more cautiously. First-half goal markets are not published because they failed to beat the base rate.

Expected fouls and corners

Fouls

Elche: at least 12Actual: 12
Barcelona: at least 11Actual: 11

Corners

Elche: at least 4Actual: 3
Barcelona: at least 4Actual: 1

These figures are set to hold in at least 60% of matches; in the rest the count comes in below them. No upper bound is stated — we make no "at most" claim. Yellow cards were measured and are not published: there our model did not beat the historical average.

Goals market

3+ goals65.2%

When the model has said 65–70% in the past, 699 of 988 predictions were correct (70.7%). Accuracy record →

The league's historical "3+ goals" rate is 48.1%. For this match the model gives a value above that baseline — and in backtesting the model's edge was confirmed only in this direction.

What these probabilities rest on

Expected goals comes out of a team's attack weighed against its opponent's defence. A strong attack is damped when it meets a strong defence — which is why comparing the ratings on their own is misleading.

How many goals Elche score1.07

Attack: Elche score close to the league average.

Opponent's defence: Barcelona concede 16% fewer than the league average, which pulls the expectation down.

Result: These two effects give an expectation of 1.07 goals (including home advantage).

How many goals Barcelona score2.00

Attack: Barcelona score 71% more than the league's average team — one of the sharpest attacks in the league.

Opponent's defence: Elche's defence is close to the league average (1.13×), so it doesn't move the expectation much.

Result: These two effects give an expectation of 2.00 goals (including the away penalty).

Most likely scorelines

0–211.1%1–210.4%0–39.0%

A single scoreline is always less likely than an outcome: “home win” is the sum of 1-0, 2-0, 2-1 and dozens more. So the most likely single score can be a draw while the most likely outcome is a home win; the two do not contradict each other.

Ratings were computed from 1533 matches played in this league before kick-off; the team with fewer has 77 matches. No data from after the match was used. The model's track record is published unfiltered.

Week 2 of the season. This prediction was computed from previous seasons. Summer transfers, budget changes and squad rebuilds aren't in the ratings yet — the model can only see that a team has been rebuilt once new results come in.

We measured this: the bias is only pronounced in the opening week. In this week the model's overall accuracy does not separate from the rest of the season — that is, we found no measurable flaw. The one tendency across all opening weeks is that home wins are called slightly too often (said 43.0%, got 41.9%; n=583).

This sample is small and not statistically established, which is why we do not correct the model for it. The correction we tried (pulling probabilities toward the league average) didn't win on holdout, so it wasn't added. Read opening-week predictions with a little more caution.