Uefa Conference League qualifying third round, first leg: Ajax Amsterdam v Shelbourne FC, Johan Cruyff Arena, 7pm (Live Premier Sports 1)Kameron Ledwidge can only laugh at the wonder of it all. The former Republic of Ireland under-21, a fixture in the Shelbourne defence since he returned home from Southampton in 2021, audibly exhales from the top table inside the Johan Cruyff Arena when questions start to land about Ajax’s latest piece of business with Barcelona.Twenty-four hours before the biggest game in the lives of every Shelbourne player and John Russell, their manager for only three weeks, and the talk turns to how Ajax’s technical director Jordi Cruyff is benefiting from having a foot in the two “monster clubs”.The stadium is named after his father Johan with a gigantic poster of number 14 in his gaunt twenties draped across the stadium bowl, visible as you step off the metro.Surreal does not begin to cover what Shelbourne are about to experience in the city where Rinus Michels created “Total Football” in the 1960s.Ajax just picked up Marc-André ter Stegen on loan from Barca. So the German goalkeeper could be tasked with denying Portuguese striker Rodrigo Freitas from scoring his second goal this season.In case you haven’t heard, Shelbourne are knee-deep in an injury crisis that has them on their fourth centre forward – Freitas – while 10 days ago they were forced into signing Welsh goalkeeper Eddie Beach to come straight in as the number one.A sliver of good news comes with Odhran Casey’s return from suspension and the expected reappearance of Mipo Odubeko for the second leg next Thursday at Tolka Park, the last old-world ground on the Uefa map.Cruyff has been busy in the transfer market. Along with ter Stegen comes teenage Spanish left back Jofre Torrents. A sold-out Cruyff Arena could also see a third coming of 36-year-old Daley Blind, whose father Danny scored a 25-yard screamer to break Dundalk’s resistance in 1987 during the only other European tie between Ajax and an Irish club.Harry McCue, who featured in the 6-0 aggregate defeat 39 years ago, when Frank Stapleton scored his only goal for Ajax, made a point this week about Shels’ chances against the four-time European Cup winners.“We were a decent side, and everyone played up a level against Ajax but we were part-timers,” McCue told The Irish Times. “At 66 minutes we were out of it.“These Shelbourne fellas are all professionals. They won’t fade.”Goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen has joined Ajax on a season-long loan from Barcelona. Photograph: Isabel Infantes/PA Wire The gigantic difference, McCue noted, was visible almost 20 years later when he visited the Ajax academy to witness 10 and 11-year-olds embroiled in judo combat as they were too small to lift weights. All done by 7am before class with lunch and evening pitch sessions to follow.“It is a monster club,” said Russell. “It is brilliant being here. For me as a kid growing up, watching Champions League nights in the 1990s, I remember they won the Champions League in ’95. I was 10 years of age watching Kluivert score the winner.“And they’ve a history of bring young players through. Love this club, it’s an amazing opportunity to bring Shelbourne here and try and beat them.”Cruyff really has endeavoured to re-establish Ajax in the aftermath of his predecessor Marc Overmars’ scandal, when the legendary winger admitted in 2022 to sending explicit images to multiple female colleagues.Cruyff also picked up German midfielder Julian Brandt and he is stubbornly stalling to sell his Belgian winger Mika Godts to Paris Saint-Germain.“We expect to see all of them at some point over the two legs,” quipped Russell before training on the stadium pitch.From Mounthawk Park on the edge of Tralee to the football suburb of Amsterdam, it has been an interesting three weeks since Shelbourne enticed Russell away from Sligo Rovers. Kerry knocked Shels out of the FAI Cup before Russell could move his young family to Dublin from the west. “It feels like I’ve been at the club for three months. We know we’re not expected to get anything from this tie, but we’ll have a game plan and we’ll hopefully execute it.“Look, we know they have the resources, but that’s the beauty of the challenge ahead of us. It’s about trying to cause an upset, trying to frustrate them.“We’ve got good players that are hungry, they want to perform on this level. You look at Kameron, Jack Henry-Francis, Kerr McInroy - top players who at different stages of their career have been at big clubs like Celtic, Arsenal and Southampton.“Now they are here at Shelbourne and they want to be successful as well. What is a better place to come than the Johan Cruyff Arena?”