Marseille president Pape Diouf believes his team have the quality to reach the last 16 of the Champions League.

Diouf feels his team can advance despite seeing their group-stage campaign get off to the worst possible start.

The Mediterranean side lost 2-1 to Liverpool at the Stade Velodrome in their Group D opener, but the hosts were unlucky to come away with nothing to show for their efforts.

OM matched their English opposition, who had goalkeeper Jose Reina to thank for preserving their lead as Marseille piled the pressure on in the closing stages.

The result aside, Diouf was encouraged by what he saw from his players and is not getting disheartened with five matches left in the group.

"There was not much of a difference between the two sides," he said.

"With Liverpool, I saw that they had one or two high-quality players.

"And we have some regrets because we played an almost perfect second half, but we had committed errors which our opponents feasted on which led to this result.

"We must now win one of our next two matches away from home, at PSV Eindhoven or Atletico Madrid. But whoever we play, we have the ability to surprise them."

Marseille, second in Ligue 1 after a five-match unbeaten run, are a much more cohesive team than last year.

In last season's group stage, they were embarrassed 4-0 at home by Liverpool in a qualification decider but they have strengthened and matured since then, and there was never going to be a repeat of that result.

Indeed OM took the lead through captain Lorik Cana in the 23rd minute but they were hit by two quick goals by Steven Gerrard, the first a superb curling effort from outside the box and the second a twice-taken penalty.

Once OM recovered from that setback, they were arguably the better team.

"It is a little catastrophe to lose the first match but the team showed that they had the mentality to not things slip, if you compare this defeat to the one last season," said coach Eric Gerets.

"There was a massive difference but the result is still the same. Perhaps we didn't deserve a victory but at least a draw.

"We showed we weren't inferior to them."

Gerets played Hatem Ben Arfa from the start but the France forward, who showed a few clever touches, is clearly not fully fit after suffering a number of niggling injuries over the past month.

The Belgian has no regrets, adding: "I could have either started with him or brought him on in the second half. I opted for the first.

"We saw that he had a few difficulties but he was not the only one. And it is only by making these choices that you know if you were right or not.

"He still has work to do but with Ben Arfa, you know he is capable of turning a match at any moment."

Marseille take on Atletico away in their next Group D match in two weeks' time.