City begin this season’s European quest away to Bayern Munich on Wednesday evening and England midfielder knows that points on the road are equally as important - but three home victories would go a long way to helping guarantee progression to the knock-out rounds
Milner is also convinced City are capable of repeating the victory he played a huge part in at the Allianz Arena last season as the 2014/15 campaign begins in Munich.
“The first aim is to get out of the group and I think the main thing is to try to get points on the board,” he said. “If you can take maximum points from your home matches, that is a big stepping stone to getting out of the group.”
Milner believes the champions’ sixth meeting with Bayern in the past three years will also be an advantage – though admittedly only a slight one as the beaten Champions League semi-finalists look to win back the crown they lost to Real Madrid last May.
“We should know them pretty well,” he said. “We have played them quite a lot over the last few years, including friendlies.
We know they are a top team - you can’t do what they have done over the last few years, and have their record in the Champions League without being a top team
...James Milner
“So that is what you want to do as a player, play against the best teams and we have done that.
“We beat them at the Allianz last year, so we should take a lot of confidence from that and go into the game with no fear knowing that we have been there before and got three points.”
Milner says the manner of the 3-2 win in Munich last year is still one of his most memorable nights in European football, adding: “We started the game terribly and after 15 minutes we were 2-0 down.
“Playing against the European champions, I do not think there are many teams that would have come back from that, but that shows the character and quality that we have in the squad. To have that mental strength to come back and win the game was massive.
“We want to kick on again. I think having won the Premier League a couple of times, and been fortunate enough to win every trophy domestically, we now want to prove ourselves on the European stage.
“I believe we have a good enough team to do that. We have been unfortunate with tough groups over the past few years, but that is the Champions League. We have to start well in the group and hopefully build from that. It won’t be easy but we believe we can come away from Bayern with a victory.”
