I think you need to change the title of your thread. Because you keep refering to Ronaldo as a goal machine. Indeed he was. But he did nothing else. You put "footballer" on the title. If you had put "scorer", then Ronaldo may be in the top 5 ever list of scorers, yes. But as a footballer, you have to consider a lot more things than only goals.
Assists, contribution to teamplay, leadership, consistency, injuries (it's sad, but Ronaldo spent too much time injured, probably without injuries he would have been even more amazing, but I think injuries limited him to a poacher. One of the best ever, but just that). If you keep saying the word "footballer", there's no doubt Henry, Zidane, Del Piero, Raul, Ronaldinho, Van Basten, Xavi... they are better footballers than Ronaldo. And others like Cantona, Giggs, Bergkamp or Batistuta can compare to him.
Mind you, I watched the best season of Ronaldo live at the stadium. I was absolutely mesmerized and some days you just had to put your hands on your head when he scored. But I tell you, the other 80 minutes he was quite unnoticed. Just like Romario. But whilst Ronaldo was an athlete and had enormous power, Romario was a real genius. He did things no one else did. Not by being faster or stronger, but by being a genius. He saw things no one else saw. I tend to admire people who depends basically on skills and brains.
So, in my oppinion, even Romario was better than Ronaldo. Though that's just a personal opinion, and I would love to have BOTH of them in my team! Hey, in fact I had both of them in my team! I've been so freacking lucky to watch the players I've watched in the last 20 years. Wow!
Players like Zidane, Ronaldinho, Messi, Xavi, Henry, Del Piero... they are constantly influencing the team and lifting the entire squad to a higher level. Anyone playing aside Zidane or Ronaldinho got better as a player, instantly. Can you say the same about Ronaldo? Hardly.