[People Profile] All We Know About Rafael Leão Biography, Career, Family, Networth

Rafael Alexandre da Conceicao Leao born on 10 June 1999, is an Portuguese professional footballer, who plays as forward with Serie A club AC Milan and for the Portugal National team.

Profiling Rafael " Alexandre da " Conceição Leão

After graduating from the Sporting CP youth system, Leao made his debut in the first team in the year 2018, winning his first trophy of the season, 2017-18 Taca da Liga, before unintentionally ending his contract after an incident at the club. After that, he signed with Ligue 1 side Lille on an unpaid transfer. AC Milan signed him in 2019 for a reported price in the

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region of EUR23 million. In his third season with AC Milan, he was instrumental in helping the team achieve in the 2021-22 Serie A, which ended the 11-year league title absence. He also won the Serie A Most Valuable Player.

Leao is an ex- Portugal youth international who represented his country at different levels at the youth level, including being part of the team for under-17s which took home the 2016 European Championship. He made his debut for the senior team in 2021.

Club careers

Sporting CP

In Almada, Setubal District, to Angolan parents, Leao joined Sporting CP’s youth team at age 9 following an infrequent stint in Amora. On the 21st of May, 2017 while still a junior Leao made his debut as a senior in the reserve team in the form of an extra in the second half as well as scoring on a 1-1 draw with Braga B.

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Through the director Jorge Jesus, Leao first played on the Primeira Liga with the first team on February 11, 2018 replacing Bryan Ruiz for the last 21 minutes of the 2-0 victory at home against Feirense. On the 2nd of March after taking over the role that was left by injured Seydou Doumbia at the end of the second half and scoring for the visitors just a few minutes after he took the field however, in a 2-1 away defeat to Porto as a result becoming the club’s youngest ever scorer against this opponent.

On June 14, 2018 Leao unilaterally ended his contract with the Estadio Jose Alvalade, citing an incident during which staff and players were assaulted at by supporters during the training.

Lille

On the 8th of August, Leao joined French club Lille as a free-of-cost transfer and signed a five-year contract. Sporting CP would later dispute Lille’s decision to take on the player, and deem the move “unacceptable”, filling a complaint with FIFA and demanding EUR45 million in release clause. In September, Leao wanted to terminate his contract with the club because the transfer was not approved through the Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP) because of sanctions issued by Direction Nationale du Controle de Gestion (DNCG) in the wake of Lille’s financial troubles. After being persuaded by his agent to remain at Lille Leao, the DNCG confirmed the validity of Lille’s current contracts which included the one of Leao.

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Leao made his first competitive appearance on the 30th of September as he replaced Loic Remy, in the 78th minutes during a 3-0 win against Olympique de Marseille. Leao got his very first Ligue 1 goal in only his second appearance, having played for 67 minutes, and helped the hosts beat Caen with a 1-0 win. In his time, Leao had eight points in his 26 games of competitive play as he played alongside fellow teammates Jose Fonte, Rui Fonte, Edgar Ie and Xeka and ended up with his team as runners-up in an impressive season of 2018-19 Ligue 1 season.

AC Milan

2019-21: Adaptation to Italy

1 August, 2019 Leao was signed to a contract for five years with A.C. Milan for a cost in the amount of EUR23 million. Leao began his Serie A debut on 25 August, taking over Samu Castillejo in the 75th minute of an away loss of 1-0 to Udinese. Leao made his debut goal for the club as a late consolation to the 1-3 loss at home to Fiorentina on the 29th of September. On March 19, 2020, Leao was sentenced by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) found Leao to be paid EUR16.5 millions to Sporting CP for his unilateral violation of the contract. On the 7th of July in 2020 Leao struck a goal in a match against league leaders Juventus in order to lead Milan to win 4-2 after being beaten 2 goals. At the conclusion year, he scored six goals in his 31 league games, which led Milan to finish sixth and a streak of 10 matches unbeaten.

At the start of the next season 4 October 2020 Leao had a double in the 3-0 win on San Siro against Spezia. On the 29th of October, he achieved his goal for the first time in European competitions, scoring the group stage of 3-0 home triumph during the UEFA Europa League against Sparta Prague. The goal was the fastest in history for Serie A and in Europe’s top five leagues after just six seconds on the 20th of December at Sassuolo and the game ended with a 2-1 win in his favour.

On January 3, 2021, he scored his 2nd goal in the match against Benevento in the final victory 2-0 making him the second-youngest foreign player aged 21 and 207 days old to score more than 10 scores to Milan within Serie A, after Alexandre Pato, who was 19 and 19 days.

2021-22: Serie A champion

The start of the 2021-22 season on the 29th of August, Leao scored his first goal, courtesy of an outside of the box shot during a home 4-1 victory over Cagliari in the San Siro. On the 15th of September, the day of the midst of his UEFA Champions League debut, Leao scored an assist for Ante Rebic during a 3-1 defeat away to Liverpool On 28 September Leao got his goal for the first time of the tournament, in a 2-1 loss at home to Atletico Madrid.

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On the 9th of February in 2022 Leao scored the first goal against Lazio and was a part of with the second goal. He was directly responsible for 14 goals throughout the entire season, which was more than his previous record in Europe’s top five leagues. A few days later after his 100th game for Milan Leao scored the only goal in the 1-0 win over Sampdoria which placed Milan at the top of the league. On February 25 the striker scored the eighth goal in league play of the season in a game against Udinese with a 1-1 draw. He became the second goal scorer in each day of a week Serie A with AC Milan in the same way as Andriy Shevchenko.

The first day of May, Leao scored the winner in a 1-0 victory over Fiorentina making him one of the most youthful Portuguese who scored at minimum 10 goals in one Serie A campaign.

The next day Leao’s two assists for Sandro Tonali’s team helped overcome a deficit to beat Hellas Verona 3-1 away from home, allowing his team to take over the rivals Inter in the lead in the Serie A table. On May 22 Leao scored a hat-trick assist for only the second time in his career when Milan defeated Sassuolo 3-1 away from home, securing the debut Serie A title in eleven years. In the final game of the campaign, Leao got his Serie A MVP award for the 2021-22 season. He ended the season with 10 assists and 11 goals.

International career

Youth

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As part of Portugal’s Portugal under-17 team Leao played in the 2016 UEFA European Under-17 Championship. In the competition Leao was in the field for five of six games, but was not competing against Spain or the Netherlands in the semi-finals. In the final in the finals against Spain, Leao replaced Domingos Quina in the 79th minute. Portugal was able to win the tournament to win the tournament for the 6th time after a penalty shoot-out 5-4 victory following a 1-1 draw in extra-time.

In the Under-19s, Leao participated in the 2017 UEFA European Under-19 Championship, aiding in finishing second, after losing the championship final against England. In recognition of his performance throughout the tournament Leao was selected in the “Team of the Tournament”. In the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Poland the player played the entire tournament and scored the sole goal in a match against South Africa, though his team was not able to advance from the group.

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On November 10, 2017, just 18, Leao won his first cap for the Portugal under-21 team, playing for 31 minutes during a 1-1 draw away against Romania in the 2019 UEFA European Championship qualifiers. Leao made his debut goal of the season at this level on September 10, 2019 in an 2-0 win against Belarus in the 2021 European Championship qualification campaign. In March 2021 Leao was a participant of 2021’s UEFA European Under-21 Championship, aiding Portugal finish second following a loss in the final 1-0 against Germany.

Senior

On the 5th of October, 2021 Leao received a call-up to the first squad at first to replace an injured Rafa Silva. A few days later the Brazilian made his debut for the international team as a replacement for Cristiano Ronaldo in the half-time break and contributing to Andre Silva’s goal in the 3-1 friendly loss to Qatar.