diff --git a/src/network/networkd-link.c b/src/network/networkd-link.c
index 4afd540d20..a7414b2a5d 100644
--- a/src/network/networkd-link.c
+++ b/src/network/networkd-link.c
@@ -1617,7 +1617,10 @@ static int link_carrier_lost(Link *link) {
                 /* let's shortcut things for CAN which doesn't need most of what's done below. */
                 return 0;
 
-        if (link->network && link->network->ignore_carrier_loss)
+        if (!link->network)
+                return 0;
+
+        if (link->network->ignore_carrier_loss)
                 return 0;
 
         r = link_stop_engines(link, false);