Reds won't waste Euro chance - Gerrard

Steven Gerrard is determined not to waste Liverpool's chance of making Champions League progress in Marseille on Tuesday night.

The Reds' prospects of reaching the last 16 looked bleak after a home defeat to the French side and another loss away to Besiktas, but since then they have stormed back with high-scoring victories over Besiktas and Porto at Anfield and know a win at the Stade Velodrome will be enough to reach the knockout stages.

Gerrard is grateful that the team's fate is back in their own hands and said: "If you'd told me five minutes after the final whistle against Marseille at Anfield we would go into the last game knowing a win would secure our qualification, I would have bitten your hand off at that offer."

He added: "It was even worse when we lost to Besiktas. We knew then we had a real uphill struggle, but after our recent performances in the competition we know it's up to ourselves again. We're a different side and a lot more confident than the one which lost to Marseille at home."

The Reds were in a similar position in the group phase in the 2004-05 campaign, which ended with that famous final triumph in Istanbul. Back then, they needed to score three goals against Greek side Olympiacos and achieved it thanks to a Gerrard thunderbolt into the goal at the Kop end in a 3-1 win.

Gerrard told the club's official website www.liverpoolfc.tv: "Everyone remembers Olympiacos, so our experiences in the past will help. The big difference this time is we're not at home, so that's going to make it tougher, but we're playing good football, winning games and scoring goals.

"The pressure will be on Marseille as much as us this time. We know we're always expected to go through to the knockout stage, but after they beat us at Anfield and we lost in Turkey, we weren't favourites to qualify.

"They must have hoped we would be out of it by now and they would already be through, but fortunately it hasn't turned out that way.

"For them not to be sure of going through after already beating us once must worry them, so we've got to take advantage of the chance we've given ourselves."