Rafael Leão was born on 10 June 1999 in Almada, Portugal, to an Angolan father and a mother from São Tomé and Príncipe, and he grew up in the Lisbon area before joining Sporting CP's academy. After making his senior debut in 2018, contractual difficulties at Sporting led to a free move to French side Lille, where he showed enough as a teenager to attract major Italian interest.
In 2019 AC Milan signed him for around €35 million, and he has since become the face of the club's revival. His breakthrough came in 2021-22, when he scored 11 goals with 10 assists to drive Milan to their first Serie A title in 11 years and was named Serie A MVP. In 2023-24 he led the league in assists, and in 2024-25 he helped the club win the Supercoppa Italiana before winning it again in subsequent campaigns.
For Portugal he won the 2016 UEFA U17 European Championship and made his senior debut in 2021. He featured at the 2022 World Cup and Euro 2024, and was part of the squad that won the 2024-25 UEFA Nations League.
A 1.88 m left winger, Leão combines pace, dribbling, two-footedness and increasing maturity in front of goal — a profile that has drawn comparisons to Kylian Mbappé and Thierry Henry, and one that makes him a constant threat from the left of Milan's attack and a reliable creative outlet for both club and country.