Of course, there has always been more to James Milner than the spoof Twitter account in his name, which has regaled its 600,000 followers with updates of him ironing, tidying his cupboards and discovering he had one sock inside out on England duty and deciding he should tell Gary Cahill.
At Manchester City, Milner learned Spanish because he wanted to know what some of the dressing-room humour was all about.
He was self-assured enough to dress in 1920s golf apparel to promote a Tiger Woods PGA Tour game at a Cheshire course — and saw the funny side of that.
James Milner celebrates after Liverpool secured their place in the Champions League final
Milner collapses to the floor after the referee’s final whistle at the Stadio Olimpico
But it was after Liverpool’s sublime night in Rome that the 32-year-old had the last laugh — outspoofing the @boringmilner Twitter account when, in response to the question of whether some bottles of Italian red might now be in order, the teetotaller replied: ‘Maybe for a few of the boys, and I might stretch myself out for some Ribena or something.’
And then there was his own tweet — nothing remotely like that stream of banality from megastars who hire people to do their social media for them. ‘Anyone got any tips for getting a Champions League logo off a face?’ he said of his own goal in Stadio Olimpico.
Milner has spent a professional lifetime fending off accusations of being a monochrome embodiment of English football’s impoverishment, yet now finds himself nailed on for a place in the Kiev final.
He’s chalked up a record-equalling eight Champions League assists for a season, with the supply line between him and Roberto Firmino — eight completed passes — the most effective on the field in Rome. No Liverpool midfielder or defender completed more passes.
The midfielder took to Twitter to make light of his own goal against Roma on Wednesday
There is an edifying sense of the quiet man winning through in all of this. Milner has played for five of Britain’s biggest clubs in a 16-year career and not one has had an indifferent day’s work from him.
Yet he’s been the safe choice, the conservative pick — with all the pejorative connotations that carries — ever since he replaced Wayne Rooney as the youngest Premier League goalscorer, converting Jason Wilcox’s cross for Leeds at Sunderland at the age of 16 years, 357 days in 2002.
Rooney had a big 18th birthday bash, with an appearance by Atomic Kitten, around that time and Milner was asked if there would be something similar. ‘No, we’ve got a few big games coming up, so it’ll be just a quiet meal with family and friends,’ he said.
His clubs have paid scant attention to the caricature.
The 32-year-old has a record-equalling eight Champions League assists in one season
When Manchester City moved to bring him from Aston Villa in 2010, urged to do so by their scouts Barry Hunter and Dave Fallows, they didn’t really see him as a ‘nine out of 10 player’, one source told Sportsmail.
‘But we knew he would be seven-and-a-half every match, never be injured, be a great character in the dressing room. He would be to us what Gerrard or Carragher was to Liverpool.’
The story of a community event involving Milner and Mario Balotelli reveals plenty. Balotelli had to wait half an hour for his public appearance, which everyone knew would be a nightmare.
Milner saw to it that the Italian sat in on an interview and was given an iPad to play the Angry Birds game to keep him occupied. ‘Managers don’t want to be babysitters,’ said a source close to the management team at that time. ‘They want players to do that for them.’
Milner tackles Kostas Manolas as his side did what they needed to do on Wednesday night
It was a measure of how football means more to him than the sport’s trappings that he left City for Liverpool in 2015 after manager Manuel Pellegrini had kept him out of the side.
City were so desperate not to lose him, especially to Liverpool, that they offered him £160,000 a week. But Milner’s mind was set. By then, Hunter and Fallows had moved to Liverpool. The club knew what they were getting.
It was in keeping with all that has gone before that Milner missed the best of the celebrations on Wednesday because he was pulled in for a random drugs test.
‘Looked like great scenes in the dressing room. I heard them from the drug testing room,’ he posted on Instagram.
It’s been a long time coming, but he’s found his voice and his place.
The veteran is congratulated by manager Jurgen Klopp following the crucial result