He was more entertaining at United. But his productivity was just much better at Madrid, even his overall game at Madrid was much more refined.
Being honest, it's questionable whether he was more entertaining at United. Cards on the table that was just something I told myself because it was hard to accept Madrid getting his best years.
I never, fully, enjoyed Ronaldo at Madrid. Irrational? Maybe. But, to me, it was hard to accept he'd left United to give his best to another club.
Now he's come back I find I am able to be less biased about his time at Madrid. Ronaldo has never played as well for United as he did for Madrid in any sense.
He was fantastically watchable for us first time around. However, at Madrid he was consistently a level above anything we saw.
And I know how good he was for us, I remember the good times. But at Madrid he reached unthinkable levels. His application of his talent, his decision making, his ability to find space, his shooting off of both feet. Everything leveled up.
Also there's this myth that he stopped dribbling at Madrid, which is just not true. He still ran people ragged. Of course, as he aged, he applied his dribbling more close to goal to get shots off. But among his 450 goals for Madrid there are plenty that involve him leaving defenders twisted up in a heap.
Ronaldo only failed to score 50 times or more for Madrid in 3 of the 9 seasons he spent at Madrid. In two of those seasons he scored 60+ goals. He was otherworldly at Madrid.
Nowadays 30 goals a season will cost you €100m. Ronaldo at Madrid's worst season was 33 goals in all competitions. When you think of the players he's been compared to over the past week...