Heading into the last day of the Brazilian Serie A season with a precarious one-point gap between themselves and the relegation zone, Avai needed to at least match the result of the team directly below them to ensure their safety.
That team was Figueirense, who were facing Fluminense, while Avai themselves had the unenviable task of having to fight it out with newly crowned champions Corinthians in their final fixture.
With the atmosphere tense and the league table poised on a knife edge, Avai substitute Andre Lima decided to take drastic action in order to keep an eye on the Figueirense match by smuggling his phone into the dugout by hiding it inside his shinpads.
Lima was then spotted staring at his pads during the match, and even began gesturing wildly for his teammates to go all-out attack when Figueirense went 1-0 up against Flu.
Isso não tem preço. André Lima olhando time da série A. pic.twitter.com/MpnS9XZyby
- Leomar (@Kossmannleomar) December 7, 2015
Sadly, it didn't end well for Avai, who were ultimately consigned to the dreaded drop after managing only a 1-1 draw against Corinthians while Figueirense secured a 1-0 win to leapfrog their relegation rivals in the table and stay up by a single point.
