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Shelbourne boss hails ‘amazing opportunity’ as he recalls great Ajax sides of the 1990s John Russell’s men are in Amsterdam ahead of their Europa Conference League clash. John Russell can remember growing up watching the great Ajax sides of the 1990s - and now he has a chance to cause a major upset against the Dutch giants. Russell is in Amsterdam with his Shelbourne side ahead of tonight’s Europa Conference League third qualifying round first leg clash. Speaking at the Johan Cruyff Arena ahead of last night’s training, Russell said: “For me as a kid growing up, Champions League nights in the 90s, they won the Champions League in 95, I was ten years of age watching them, (Patrick) Kluivert scoring the winner. “They’ve a history of bringing young players through and I love this club, it’s an amazing opportunity to bring Shelbourne here and try and beat them.” Russell has urged his players to make the most of tonight’s opportunity against an Ajax side that could hand Marc-Andre ter Stegen, on-loan from Barcelona, his debut. He said: “These occasions, you have to play on emotion and if players aren’t for the game… You’re representing your club, but you’re representing your family and friends and there are a lot of eyes watching this game. “It’s an Irish club against a powerhouse in Europe, but to get the best out of the group, you have to play on emotion and it’s a big occasion. “We’ll have a game plan and we’ve got to try and execute it. It’s two legs and we’ve got to make sure we stay in the tie, but we’ve got to make sure we embrace the challenge and we’re all excited for it.” Researching tonight’s opponents won’t have been as challenging as, say, their most recent European opponents Nomme Kalju from Estonia. But Russell hasn’t overloaded his players with information. “We’ve watched their games and we’ve done our analysis with our players, and we have a game-plan,” he said. “I think it’s important that we focus on ourselves. I say this all the time and I think it’s important, you can control how your team plays in and out of possession. “You can do too much on the opposition and players go into games going, what are we doing? “Our lads know what we need to do and we’ll execute that. It’s 11 v 11. Yeah, they’ve got top-class players, we are going to have to be mentally dialed in and have concentration for 90-plus minutes. “It’s about trying to stay in the tie and hopefully bring something back to Tolka Park.”