Of course you can, distancing yourself from the mythology of him is precisely what you have to do in order to be objective.
You don't have to convince me that he was a great player, I know he was. And for all we know he may have become as good as Maradona, Di Stefano or Pele if the tradgedy never happened - but as it is, that's a huge 'what if'.
Okay, he came third in the Ballon D'Or, that's great for his age and proves how talented he was. However it doesn't sit in the same league as the achievements of someone like Cruyff, who won the fecking thing three times, won the European Cup three times, was the best player at the 1974 World Cup. It's black and white mate.