Ronaldinho's shorter peak being more fondly thought of has a lot of do with his Champions League games being available on free TV.

Let's talk about it. https://twitter.com/clockendcarti/status/1293657956391825408

You cannot say "Ronaldinho is the greatest/most fun player I ever saw", without taking into consideration the formats in which you saw him.

He's had a greater peak than Neymar, but Dinho's misses are never being clipped and giffed and memed, so the legend remains.

This isn't me saying "Neymar is better than Ronaldinho". (He lacks the amazing peak year, but outdoes him for time near the top of the mountain).

You will never think of Neymar on the same level of Ronaldinho, because you consume their careers in VERY different ways.

There was literally an advert where Ronaldinho pinged a football off a crossbar and it repeatedly came back to him, and people WONDERED IF IT WAS REAL.

He was amazing yes, but it was also 2006.

Ronaldinho's career comes in that sweet spot where UCL games were still on free tv so there's a larger base of viewers to fall in love with him.

But he's also before social media/broadband so there's less information/ability to tear down the legend before it's made.

Also, this idea of "Ronaldinho was more fun to watch", owes a scoop to "co ordinated pressing wasn't really a thing yet", as well as Ronaldinho's amazing dribbling ability.