diff --git a/spring-expression/src/main/java/org/springframework/expression/spel/ast/MethodReference.java b/spring-expression/src/main/java/org/springframework/expression/spel/ast/MethodReference.java
index 0e7af3e02eb..3b60cff3ae3 100644
--- a/spring-expression/src/main/java/org/springframework/expression/spel/ast/MethodReference.java
+++ b/spring-expression/src/main/java/org/springframework/expression/spel/ast/MethodReference.java
@@ -314,20 +314,22 @@ public class MethodReference extends SpelNodeImpl {
 		boolean isStaticMethod = Modifier.isStatic(method.getModifiers());
 		String descriptor = cf.lastDescriptor();
 
-		Label skipIfNull = null;
 		if (descriptor == null && !isStaticMethod) {
 			// Nothing on the stack but something is needed
 			cf.loadTarget(mv);
 		}
-		if ((descriptor != null || !isStaticMethod) && this.nullSafe) {
-			mv.visitInsn(DUP);
+
+		Label skipIfNull = null;
+		if (this.nullSafe && (descriptor != null || !isStaticMethod)) {
 			skipIfNull = new Label();
 			Label continueLabel = new Label();
+			mv.visitInsn(DUP);
 			mv.visitJumpInsn(IFNONNULL, continueLabel);
 			CodeFlow.insertCheckCast(mv, this.exitTypeDescriptor);
 			mv.visitJumpInsn(GOTO, skipIfNull);
 			mv.visitLabel(continueLabel);
 		}
+
 		if (descriptor != null && isStaticMethod) {
 			// Something on the stack when nothing is needed
 			mv.visitInsn(POP);
diff --git a/spring-expression/src/test/java/org/springframework/expression/spel/SpelCompilationCoverageTests.java b/spring-expression/src/test/java/org/springframework/expression/spel/SpelCompilationCoverageTests.java
index ed575bfec9f..d20cf8097ac 100644
--- a/spring-expression/src/test/java/org/springframework/expression/spel/SpelCompilationCoverageTests.java
+++ b/spring-expression/src/test/java/org/springframework/expression/spel/SpelCompilationCoverageTests.java
@@ -6429,10 +6429,11 @@ public class SpelCompilationCoverageTests extends AbstractExpressionTests {
 	// at the end of createExpressionClass(SpelNodeImpl) in order to review generated
 	// byte code for debugging purposes.
 	//
-	// private static void saveGeneratedClassFile(String stringAST, String className, byte[] data) {
-	//		Path path = Path.of("build", StringUtils.replace(className, "/", ".") + ".class");
-	//		System.out.println("Writing compiled SpEL expression [%s] to [%s]".formatted(stringAST, path.toAbsolutePath()));
+	//	private static void saveGeneratedClassFile(String stringAST, String className, byte[] data) {
 	//		try {
+	//			Path path = Path.of("build", StringUtils.replace(className, "/", ".") + ".class");
+	//			Files.deleteIfExists(path);
+	//			System.out.println("Writing compiled SpEL expression [%s] to [%s]".formatted(stringAST, path.toAbsolutePath()));
 	//			Files.copy(new ByteArrayInputStream(data), path);
 	//		}
 	//		catch (IOException ex) {