Bayern Munich vs. Chelsea: Bayern Should Be Cautiously Optimistic on Home Turf

Playing the Champions League final at home is an advantage, and on Saturday, Bayern Munich will be the first team since 1984 to take advantage of it.

But a win over Chelsea will be no easy task, home-field advantage aside. Cautious optimism is a must.

Conquering their emotions leading up to such an important and pressure-filled showdown will perhaps be even more challenging than winning the match itself, and playing at home never automatically equates to a win. The last team to play in the finals at home—Roma at the Stadio Olimpico—lost to Liverpool.

Still, it is not as though Bayern is not expected to win at home. They are expected to have a stark advantage over Chelsea. But what about the idea that the visiting fans are noisier and more boisterous? What about the pressure that accompanies great expectations?

Forget the fact that a short-handed Chelsea squad will be without many of its starters. Throughout the duration of the Champions League, they have played through adversity, and despite being overmatched, they will leave everything on the pitch on Saturday.

It has worked for them before; why would it be any different now? There's a reason this team was able to beat Barcelona. 

Goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, who held strong during a shootout against Real Madrid to secure Bayern's win, is cautious to avoid getting too excited over the idea of a vulnerable Chelsea team. He told ESPN.com's Nick Bidwell: 

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We realize that it will be anything but straightforward against Chelsea because they have not got this far in the Champions League by accident. Any team that knocks out Barcelona has to be respected and the Chelsea players must feel that they can do no wrong at the moment. 

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Though there is doubtlessly a trap to avoid falling into when it comes to taking home-field advantage for granted, Neuer is confident that it will give Bayern a tremendous boost. The fans have energized this team all season and that sentiment will only be amplified tenfold on the sport's biggest stage.

He, for one, is not buying the talk that playing at home will hurt Bayern rather than help them. He told Bidwell, "We're hungry and we're at home. They are two good reasons and we should not look on the home advantage as a burden that brings extra expectation. The key is to look at this match as a privilege and an honor, not a burden."

Chelsea is David, having never won the Champions League and facing a setting in which every single facet of the situation is a strike against them. Bayern is Goliath. They have everything going for them, but David has beaten Goliath before.

Stranger things have happened.