The Invisible Man
The true story of what happened when an ex-professional footballer from Australia called Andy Bernal landed in Madrid to look after superstar David Beckham and the complete chaos that followed.
Madrid, 2003
If this story was a movie, the opening scene might have Andy Bernal nudging a Range Rover through dark Madrid streets. But crowded as they are on this night, these are not postcard streets — skinny, old, full of bars, restaurants, and tourists. These are the expensive suburban streets of Madrid’s privileged rich in La Moraleja, Madrid’s own Beverly Hills.
It’s September, 2003, but the night is still warm in the Spanish capital. The Range Rover Bernal drives edges past parked cars, crowds of onlookers, and flashing paparazzi, their cameras exploding light in the dark. With a nod to security guards standing out the front, carefully scrutinising all arrivals, Bernal swings his car through the front gates of a vast mansion, up a long curving driveway, and comes to a stop in a car park lined with very expensive sports cars.
Bernal jumps from the Range Rover and guides his companion toward a side gate that leads around a vast house and into a back garden the size of several football fields. They hear the music —…
