Ask any professional footballer how they judge their career and there's usually a common theme.
There's often no space for grey areas in how we remember players' achievements. It's all about what they won.
Yet there are some exceptions, with a number of legendary players having failed to win the greatest club prize of all: the UEFA Champions League.
Some stayed loyal to teams like Fiorentina or Roma, others they moved around so much they always missed out on their various clubs' greatest European nights.
It remains a great injustice that some of the finest to grace the pitch were denied that elusive winners' medal.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic
The 38-year-old has played for no fewer than six clubs who have won the Champions League - Ajax, AC Milan, Inter Milan, Manchester United, Juventus and Barcelona - but by sheer accident of timing, his time with those sides have never coincided with their European triumphs.
Ronaldo
This is enough to make us spin the round the earth in the hope of turning back time. El Fenomeno deserved so much more in every aspect of his career and his failure to win Europe's elite competition is no exception.
Cesc Fabregas
A runner-up in 2006 with Arsenal, the midfielder joined Barcelona AFTER they'd won it in 2011 and they didn't reach another final before he headed back to England.
Francesco Totti
Totti deserved far more silverware in his career - the blow softened by winning the 2006 World Cup with Italy - but his sparse mantelpiece is the price he paid for his loyalty to Roma.
Roberto Baggio
Some sort of perverse karma for that outrageous ponytail perhaps, but the 1993 Ballon d'Or winner undoubtedly deserved to win the Champions League. Sadly, Juventus only won it a year after he'd left for AC Milan.
Robert Lewandowski
When Bayern Munich won it in 2013, the Polish striker was still playing for Borussia Dortmund. Ever since, he's been on a mission to change that but the Bavarians have kept coming up short in the later stages.
Gabriel Batistuta
Batistuta didn't leave Fiorentina until he was 31. That meant he'd only played in the Champions League with La Viola once and failed to progress with Roma in his later years.
Michael Ballack
The midfielder lost out with Bayer Leverkusen in 2002, courtesy of that iconic Zinedine Zidane volley. In 2008, Ballack tasted defeat again with Chelsea against Manchester United. Naturally, the German scored his penalty in the shootout (don't they always?) but John Terry's fateful slip and Nicolas Anelka's miss cost him.
Dennis Bergkamp
There was an unusual reason for Bergkamp's lack of European medals. While he was an unused substitute in the 2006 final for Arsenal against Barcelona - his last game for the club - he was so afraid of flying that he barely played continental games at all.
Gianluigi Buffon
Now 42, it seems likely that Buffon's last chance to put this right has passed him by. The goalkeeper has suffered endless heartache in European finals, losing to AC Milan on penalties in 2003, missing out in a 3-1 defeat to Barcelona in 2015, and finally being thrashed 4-1 by Real Madrid in 2017.
Lothar Matthaus
The German legend does have some fond European nights to look back on having won the UEFA Cup twice. He also won the Bundesliga seven times, Serie A and a World Cup, so let's hope he's not losing too much sleep over it.
Patrick Vieira
Vieira left Arsenal a year before they reached the 2006 final and cruelly, he'd also left Inter Milan five months before they won it in 2010 under Jose Mourinho.
Fabio Cannavaro
Another World Cup winner. Cannavaro had shown his class for years in Serie A but when the match-fixing scandal hit Juventus, he headed for Real Madrid. Even that didn't see him progress very far in the Champions League and he only ever got to the last-16 with Los Blancos.
Ruud van Nistelrooy
The furthest the Dutchman got was a run to the semi-finals with Manchester United in 2002. Yet before Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo burst onto the scene, he was the competition's all-time top scorer.
Eric Cantona
Cantona is synonymous with some of United's greatest successes in the 90s, but he'd retired by the time they won the treble in 1999.
And yet Crespo, Nedved, Cocu, Blanc, Thuram, Zambrotta, Anderson, Paul Lambert and Djimi Traore have all climbed to heights these legends could only have dreamed about.
There really is no justice in the world.
AkhatOaeNyei
2739
slight correction~ UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE never won Zlatan
DaMhztourage
502
It's really so strange and beyond human comprehension that these great players could not lay their hands on UCL trophy , however, Lewandowski and Buffon may still have a mathematical chance to do that , personally , I would have loved Buffon to win it before he hangs his boots for good
DarkKing2011
455
1 - Ronaldo : A Player with Two WC but not a UCL 2 - Fabregas : A Player with a WC but not a UCL 3 - Totti : A Player with WC but not a UCL 4- Buffon : A Goalkeeper with a WC but not a UCL 5 - Matthaus : A Player with a WC but not a UCL 6 - Cannavaro : A Player with a WC but not a UCL 7 - Zlatan : A Player with no WC or UCL or any Individual Award but A Big Mouth d'or Award and Talking as if he won both WC and UCL
Yozabilmrz
425
since Ibrahimovic did not won UEFA Champions League he should be grateful to Manchester United for assist him to win Europa League
maxm70
156
Soon Buffon will be out of this list when Juventus wins Champions league this season when Football resumes.
Honcho__
124
Buffon: At least I won a world Cup Ronaldo and Messi: At least I won a UCL Ibrahimovic: I didn't win any, But my nose is bigger than their careers
Nosabeiruz
24
Hugo Sanchez was another great player who didn’t win it.
Looacekln
8
1 - Ronaldo : A Player with Two WC but not a UCL 2 - Fabregas : A Player with a WC but not a UCL 3 - Totti : A Player with WC but not a UCL 4- Buffon : A Goalkeeper with a WC but not a UCL 5 - Matthaus : A Player with a WC but not a UCL 6 - Cannavaro : A Player with a WC but not a UCL 7 - Zlatan : A Player with no WC or UCL or any Individual Award but A Big Mouth d'or Award and Talking as if he won both WC and UCL
Some cr7 fans believe cr7 is better than Messi because cr7 has played in 4 different leagues but Zlatan at 38yrs has played in over 9 different leagues and still on, the most by any player! So Zlatan is better than cr7!