Rafael Leão
Rafael Alexandre Conceição Leão
Written by Nuno Travassos, Catarina Pereira and Luís Mateus for A Bola:
Fast and furious, but in the right way. Rafael Leao is pace, flair and creativity, even if in Italy he is being criticised for not scoring enough goals. The pragmatists should remember that Raphael, the painter not the player, was admired for his clarity of form and ease of composition. A painting by the Portugal forward, meanwhile, could be signed by Caravaggio, and it would be a portrait of crude reality and pure emotion. Leão’s finest art, besides football, is music. Son of a semba singer and nephew of a DJ, he is a rapper known as Way 45, a reference to the postcode of the neighbourhood in Seixal called Jamaica, where he grew up. “For me it means: ‘Don’t forget where you came from.’” Came through Sporting’s academy until he broke his contract and signed for Lille. The courts ruled against the player, and when he joined Milan they needed to find an agreement with Lille and Sporting to compensate the Portuguese side.
