Gary Cahill has described his prospective first appearance in a final since youth-team football as "sink or swim" as he prepares to partner David Luiz at the heart of Chelsea's defence in Saturday's Champions League showpiece against Bayern Munich.

The England defender, who is confident he will be fit to feature at the Allianz Arena after a hamstring injury, is still pinching himself after a whirlwind season that has taken him from a relegation struggle with Bolton Wanderers in January to the brink of claiming the European Cup. Cahill has not featured since the semi-final second leg in Barcelona on 24 April but returned to full training this week and was named in Roy Hodgson's national squad for the summer's European Championship.

"It's been a mad season, and a fantastic one for me," Cahill said. "Making a move to Chelsea has obviously worked out really well. Now I'm looking to move on and really build my career here. First, for the team to have won the FA Cup and now to go into this huge game, all in my first six months here is really crazy.

"It has been a fantastic second half of the season. This is my first final, probably my first of any kind since youth-team football, and it's in the biggest competition: so it's sink or swim. I did win a few things as a kid but nothing since. But I came here to play in these competitions and be a part of occasions like this. We've got a great chance now to lift the best trophy."

Confronting plays such as Mario Gomez, Arjen Robben and Franck Ribéry, having played a significant part in beating Barcelona in the semi-finals, feels like the stuff of dreams given the toils Cahill endured this season at Bolton. He tasted victory only five times in 19 league games with Wanderers this term. He departed for £7m in January, having entered the final six months of his contract at the Reebok Stadium, with the club entrenched in a relegation battle that was ultimately lost in his absence.

His own form had been patchy through that period but, after a relatively shaky start, he has quickly found his feet at Stamford Bridge. "I'd played with a few of the England boys before I arrived and never thought it would be much of an issue settling in," he said. "Ideally you want to come in, hit the ground running and, after two games, have everyone saying how amazing you are. But that doesn't always happen so you have to work at your game. Moving in that January transfer window is different to moving in the summer, so it took a few weeks but I was never worried. I just hope my game continues to keep progressing.

"Playing the likes of Lionel Messi and Robben is as good as it gets. It's where players want to be and I was no different. I thought I was the right age to move on and try to make that step up. You want to play international football – you don't get any higher than that – but to play in the Champions League is where you want to be as a club. I'm fortunate to have been able to do that this season and I hope the next few seasons it will be the same. Missing the FA Cup final felt like a massive blow. I was sick when I got the injury because I knew that was going to be the case straight away. So for me to make this one is a huge moment in my career."