Rafael Leão position, age, salary, team, girlfriend, facts, football Career
Rafael Leão is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a forward for Serie A club AC Milan and the Portugal national team. He is often regarded as one of the best forward in the world. He has been playing football since he was a child and he has an incredible vision of the game.
Rafael Leão is known for his creative and offensive style of play which has led him to be regarded as one of the best players in the world. Here, we take a closer look at Rafael Leão’s age, position, salary, team, girlfriend, facts, and football Career so far.
Who Is Rafael Leão?
Rafael Alexandre da Conceição Leão born 10 June 1999, is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a forward for Serie A club AC Milan and the Portugal national team.
Graduating from the Sporting CP youth system, Leão made his first-team debut in 2018, winning the 2017–18 Taça da Liga, before unilaterally terminating his contract, following an incident within the club. Shortly after, he joined Ligue 1 side Lille on a free transfer. AC Milan signed him in 2019 for a reported fee of €23 million. In his third season at the club, he helped the team win the 2021–22 Serie A, which ended the club’s 11-year league title drought. He was also voted Serie A Most Valuable Player.
Rafael Leão Facts
| Full Name | Rafael Alexandre da Conceição Leão |
| Nickname | The Portuguese Mbappe |
| Profession | Soccer Football Player |
| Date of Birth & Age | 10 June 1999 (age 23) |
| Birth Place | Almada, Portugal |
| Religion | Christian |
| Marital Statu | Un Married |
| Hometown & Country | Almada, Portugal |
| Height | 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) |
Rafael Leão Early Life
The Almada native spent his childhood years with lots of siblings who remain the best link to his past. Starting with his sisters are Paulo and Bianca Leao (twins).
Another female Rafael’s sibling is Nadia Leao, who is less than 10 at the time of writing his Bio. The forward spent his childhood in the town of Almada. It is on the banks of the Tagus, opposite Lisbon.
Rafael Leão Current Team
Rafael Leão Current Team is AC Milan.
Rafael Leão Age
Rafael Leão Age is 23 in 2022.
Rafael Leão Girlfriend
Rafael Leão is currently single, according to our records.
What is Rafael Leão Playing Position?
He plays as a forward in his team.
Rafael Leão Salary and Net Worth
Rafael Leão Salary is 1.4 Million Euros (1.2 Million Pounds) per year. We have crunched the numbers, this means he earns €3,836 (£3,404) per day and €160 (£142) per hour
Rafael Leão Football Career
Here, we take a closer look at Rafael Leão’s Football career so far.
Club Career
Sporting CP
Born in Almada, Setúbal District, to Angolan parents, Leão joined Sporting CP’s youth system at the age of 9 after a brief spell in Amora. On 21 May 2017, still a junior, he made his senior debut with the reserves, coming on as a second-half substitute and scoring in a 1–1 away draw against Braga B.
Courtesy of manager Jorge Jesus, Leão first appeared in the Primeira Liga with the first team on 11 February 2018, replacing Bryan Ruiz for the last 21 minutes of the 2–0 home win over Feirense. On 2 March, having taken the place of injured Seydou Doumbia late into the first half, he equalized for the visitors a few minutes after taking the pitch but in a 2–1 away loss to Porto– in the process, he became the club’s youngest-ever scorer against that opposition.
Lille
On 8 August 2018, Leão joined French club Lille on a free transfer, signing a five-year deal. Sporting CP would later dispute Lille’s deal to sign the player, deeming the transfer “unacceptable”, filling a complaint with FIFA and claiming the €45 million of his release clause. At the beginning of September 2018, Leão wanted to terminate his contract with the club, after his transfer was not approved by the Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP), due to sanctions imposed by the Direction Nationale du Contrôle de Gestion (DNCG), following Lille’s financial difficulties. After being convinced by his representative to stay at Lille, the DNCG validated Lille’s pending contracts, including his contract with Leão.
Leão made his competitive debut on 30 September 2018, replacing Loïc Rémy in the 78th minute, in a 3–0 victory over Olympique de Marseille. He scored his first Ligue 1 goal in only his second appearance, playing 67 minutes and helping the hosts defeat Caen in a 1–0 victory. During his spell, Leão scored eight goals in 26 competitive games, shared teams with compatriots José Fonte, Rui Fonte, Edgar Ié, and Xeka, and finished with his teammates as runners-up in a brilliant 2018-19 Ligue 1 season.
AC Milan
On 1 August 2019, Leão signed a five-year contract at A.C. Milan for a fee of €23 million. He made his Serie A debut on 25 August, replacing Samu Castillejo in the 75th minute in a 1–0 away defeat to Udinese. Leão scored his first goal of the club, as a late consolation in a 1–3 home loss to Fiorentina on 29 September. On 19 March 2020, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) condemned Leão to pay €16.5 million to Sporting CP for his unilateral breach of contract. On 7 July 2020, Leão scored a goal against league-leaders Juventus, to help Milan to a 4–2 win, after being down by two goals. At the end of the season, he had scored six goals in 31 league matches, helping Milan to a sixth-place finish and a 10-match unbeaten streak.
2021–22: Serie A champion
At the start of the 2021–22 season, on 29 August, Leão scored the first goal from a shot outside the box, in a 4–1 home victory against Cagliari at San Siro. On 15 September, in his UEFA Champions League debut, he provided an assist for Ante Rebić in a 3–2 away defeat to Liverpool, and on 28 September, he scored his first goal in the competition in a 2–1 home loss against Atlético Madrid.
On 9 February 2022, Leão opened the score sheet against Lazio and assisted the second goal, being directly involved in 14 goals in the season, surpassing his record during his career in Europe’s top 5 leagues. Four days later, in his 100th appearance for Milan, he scored the only goal in a 1–0 win against Sampdoria, which put Milan at the top of the league table. On 25 February, he scored his eighth league goal of the season against Udinese, in an eventual 1–1 draw, becoming in the process the second player to score in each of the seven days of a week in Serie A with AC Milan, after Andriy Shevchenko
International career
With the Portugal under-17s, Leão took participated in the 2016 UEFA European Under-17 Championship. In this competition, he played five out of six matches, not playing against the Netherlands in the semifinals. In the finals against Spain, Leão replaced Domingos Quina in the 79th minute; Portugal went on to win the competition for the sixth time, following a 5–4 penalty shoot-out victory after a 1–1 draw-in extra-time.
With the under-19s, Leão participated in the 2017 UEFA European Under-19 Championship, helping finishing as runner-up, after losing in the final to England. For his performances throughout the competition, he was named to the “Team of the Tournament”. At the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Poland, he played all three games and scored the only goal in a 1–1 draw against South Africa, though his side did not advance from the group.
On 10 November 2017, aged only 18, Leão won his first cap for the Portugal under-21 side, playing 31 minutes in a 1–1 away draw against Romania for the 2019 UEFA European Championship qualifiers. He scored his first goal at that level on 10 September 2019, in a 2–0 victory in Belarus for the 2021 European Championship qualification campaign. In March 2021, Leão took part in the 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship, helping Portugal finish as runners-up, after losing in the final 1–0 to Germany.
Senior
On 5 October 2021, Leão was called up to the senior team for the first time, as a replacement for the injured Rafa Silva. Four days later, he made his international debut, replacing Cristiano Ronaldo at half-time and providing the assist for André Silva’s goal in a 3–0 friendly defeat of Qatar.
Individual Awards
- Serie A Most Valuable Player: 2021–22
- UEFA European Under-19 Championship Team of the Tournament: 2017
Interesting Facts about Rafael Leão
Rafael Leao made his debut for the Green and Whites when he was only 18 years old. He went on to make history as the club’s youngest goalscorer by scoring against Porto in a 1–2 away loss.
The striker scored the goal by playing the ball in between the leg (nutmegging) of a legend called Iker Casillas.
Summary
The article discusses Rafael Leão’s age, position, salary, team, girlfriend, facts, and Football Career.
