He totalled 66 games and four goals in La Liga for four clubs including Real Madrid, for whom he played a part in their league and Copa del Rey double in 1979–80.
After some years out of football, Portugal coached former club Córdoba[2] also in the second level, returning to Real Madrid Castilla in 2005–06 following the December promotion to the first team of Juan Ramón López Caro.
On 6 July 2006 he succeeded López Caro once again, now at Racing de Santander,[3] helping the Cantabrians to a final tenth place in the top flight.
On 19 November 2009, Portugal returned to Racing on a two-year deal following the dismissal of Juan Carlos Mandiá, as the side had only collected one point in five home matches.
[5] In early February 2011, even though the team was placed above the relegation zone in the top division – eventually managing to stay afloat – he was sacked by new club owner, Ahsan Ali Syed from India.
[7] In his debut season, the team from La Paz won the Clausura of the Bolivian Primera División;[8] he was sacked at the turn of 2014, after the club lost the Apertura honour to rivals The Strongest on the final day of the campaign.
[16] He finished eighth of ten teams – blaming this on a sporadic match schedule and low transfer budget[17]– and the following 1 May he returned to Spain after being appointed manager of Granada CF.