Ronaldo and especially Messi are also marked. Luis Ronaldo played for Inter back then, not for shitty team. Inter was a very good team.
Also, not winning ever UCL and winning a single league title (the season he got transferred to the team who has just won UCL, and had won 3 UCL in the last 5 season) in more than a decade playing always for a top 2 (in case of Inter top 3) team in the league is absolutely a shit record. For someone that good is a black mark on his career. Does anyone think that Ron and Messi would have won a single league in their career playing for PSV, Barca, Inter, Real and Milan?
Luis was great but terribly overrated for being fantastic to watch. Still, he has been the third best attacker since I watch football but the distance from RoMessi to him is much bigger than from him and strikers like Henry or Shevchenko who never make these lists.
You seem to undermine the "team" element (direct competitors included) in this post.
PSV when Ronaldo played for them went up against a dominant Ajax who not only conquered Holland but European football. And he was there for 2 seasons. Both Ronaldo and Messi went 2 years at one team without winning the titles against more dominant teams as young players.
Ronaldo had one season with Barcelona. Broke the scoring record at the time in one try and won Cup Winners' Cup (and Copa Del Rey). Inter had UEFA Cup. Remember CL were for the league winner in these both occasions Brazillian Ronaldo won the other European trophies. Inter Milan and Barcelona didn't do so well on their own; AND other teams put in huge effort in the less prestigious European Cups back in the days. His Inter Milan stint was ridden with injuries too.
Inter & Barcelona were a very good team, but they were no where close to the top dogs when Ronaldo was there. Barcelona with Cryuff at helm was overthrown. Did anyone expect a club at the time had football philosophical civil war to win the title on first try even with the best player in the world, when mourning for immediate departure of a living coaching legend.
Inter almost hit a decade since their last title. They was hyped the year Ronaldo joined because they invested heavily and finished third in 1996 1997. However, prior seasons, they were a proper mid table Serie A team!
Remember there were more tolerance to defenders' fouls in that era than nowadays. Plenty of red card worthy fouls were not punished. It's tough to fight against superior teams when they could cynically hack you down constantly.
Once Ronaldo won that title with Madrid, he hit the decline button. That's on him as part of his Brazillian flair player thing