Born in the Lisbon outskirts of Cascais, Leal started his career with local Benfica and, not yet 17, made his Primeira Liga debut against Espinho, in a 2–0 home win on 20 April 1997.

[2] He made his breakthrough in the 1998–99 season, playing 27 league games and scoring three goals; in between, he served a loan stint at Benfica's farm team Alverca, at the time also in the top division.

[6] However, on 8 March 2002, in a match against Lorient for that competition, he suffered a serious injury to his left knee, being sidelined for the rest of the campaign after undergoing surgery and also missing that year's UEFA European Under-21 Championship;[7] his playing time was gradually cut, and a mutual contract termination was agreed on 4 August 2004.

[21] In March 2015, following José Couceiro's departure, both he – who worked for his former youth club in the board of directors[22]– and former assistant Fabiano took the reins until the end of the campaign,[23] eventually leading the team to the 12th position in the top flight; in July, the former was appointed the sole head coach.

[24] Leal participated with the Portuguese under-20 team in the 1999 FIFA World Youth Championship held in Nigeria, exiting in the round of 16 following a penalty shootout loss to Japan (1–1 after 120 minutes).