Key discussion topics before the Champions League clash between Ajax and Juventus

Ajax and Juventus will meet Wednesday night in what should be a thrilling quarter-final in the Champions League.

The Italians are desperate for continental success and were crowned European champions in 1996, despite their grip on the Serie A in recent years.

Ajax, meanwhile, shocked Real Madrid in the last 16 days with a thrilling 4-1 victory at Bernabeu that put his talented young team in the limelight.

Right here, Sportsmail examines some of the main issues that both sides face before the first leg in Amsterdam.

The return of Ronaldo

Ronaldo was signed primarily to deliver the Champions League to the club and his driving record in Madrid placed him at the top of the transfer market's priorities last summer.

In his first season in Turin, Ronaldo scored 24 goals in 36 appearances and provided 12 badists.

One wondered whether or not he would be able to play this match after getting hurt in the thigh during his international service with Portugal last month.

These worries were however resolved after his participation in the training on Tuesday and appeared to be in shape and ready to go.

He is now aiming for a fourth consecutive title in the Champions League after winning three consecutive wins at Bernabeu before leaving for Italy with a £ 100 million contract last summer.

The young guns of Ajax

Wednesday night, more than half of Ajax's team could graduate from the club's famous academy, which is due to the redesign led by Johan Cruyff.

He was so disoriented by the club's policy of recruiting foreign talent instead of feeding them that, upon his return to the club, he launched his "Velvet Revolution".

Cruyff has hired former players Edwin van der Sar and Marc Overmars in managerial positions and has handed legends to Dennis Bergkamp, ​​Jaap Stam, Frank de Boer and Wim Jonk as coaches. The return to the fundamentals of the club eventually led them to the quarterfinals of the Champions League.

Six players in their starting lineup at the Bernabeu were 22 years old or younger and, although the reality is that the team is separated from this summer, the club is once again able to challenge the best.

While Ajax is renowned for its youth development, Juve also has a valuable badet being born at Moise Kean. He arrived from Turin in 2010 and has finally burst onto the scene in recent weeks, scoring five goals in five games to help the club come out of Ronaldo's absence.

Stars in the showcase

Frenkie de Jong has already been poaching in Ajax and will join Barcelona this summer with a 65 million pound contract. The buzzards continue to turn around but Matthijs de Ligt is also ready to leave at the end of the season.

The defender, aged 19, is one of the most sought-after young people in Europe. Barcelona would be one of the interested parties alongside PSG, Juventus, Liverpool and Manchester City.

Those in Amsterdam expect the club to take advantage of the team to the tune of £ 150m this summer, with a keen interest in forwards Hakim Ziyech and David Neres as well as goalkeeper Andre Onana. We expect that they all start against Juventus.

While the summer transfer window is looming in the distance, some players from Juve are scrambling to get away from Turin. The arrival of Ronaldo saw Paulo Dybala fall in the hierarchy and interested parties would not fail.

Winger Douglas Costa would also be ready for a new challenge. The Brazilian, who joined Juveon following a permanent contract with Bayern Munich in June 2018, has scored only one goal this season and Tottenham is one of five clubs that are considering to change direction.

History between the two clubs

Ajax has won only two of its 12 European matches against Juventus and none since 1974. The Italians are unbeaten for nine games against the Dutch club, winning five of the last six.

They met in two finals of the Cup of Europe. Ajax beat Juve 1-0 in Belgrade in 1973 thanks to Johnny Rep's strike, but Juve took revenge in Rome 23 years later.

Fabrizio Ravanelli quickly gave the Juve advantage before Jari Litmanen did not show up at Ajax, who was trying to become the first team to retain the Champions League after defeating AC Milan 12 months earlier. This was not the case when Juve won 4-2 on penalties.

Juve also won both matches of both teams, the latest being a total score of 2-1 on a draw for the 2009/10 UEFA Europa League.

How did they get to the quarter-finals

Ajax finished second in Group E behind Bayern Munich with three wins and three draws. They made an excellent match against Bayern and also scored one point in Benfica before beating them at home and winning both games against Minnows AEK Athens.

It's in the last game of the 16 that Ajax achieved its best performance by beating a 2-1 home defeat against Real to progress. Dusan Tadic produced the performance of his life at Bernabeu as he shocked the most dominant team in the recent history of the competition and was 4-1.

Meanwhile, Ronaldo and his team-mates finished first in group H, despite a home defeat against Manchester United and far against the Young Boys in the final.

The disappointment of the Europeans seemed to be at the rendezvous when they lost the first leg of their first leg of the last 16 games against Atletico Madrid without scoring the goal on the outside. But where there is Ronaldo, there is hope and the Portuguese star showed exactly why she had paid a lot of money to sign it while he was marking a dazzling hat trick for put his former Spanish rivals to the sword.