diff --git a/fs/btrfs/backref.c b/fs/btrfs/backref.c
index 679dc97354bef4b2df954671b5f711f81b0cdef0..a3316f1707e6d801ed195c2585ef0805ad9edd4a 100644
--- a/fs/btrfs/backref.c
+++ b/fs/btrfs/backref.c
@@ -509,7 +509,7 @@ static int __add_missing_keys(struct btrfs_fs_info *fs_info,
 }
 
 /*
- * merge two lists of backrefs and adjust counts accordingly
+ * merge backrefs and adjust counts accordingly
  *
  * mode = 1: merge identical keys, if key is set
  *    FIXME: if we add more keys in __add_prelim_ref, we can merge more here.
@@ -537,9 +537,9 @@ static void __merge_refs(struct list_head *head, int mode)
 
 			ref2 = list_entry(pos2, struct __prelim_ref, list);
 
+			if (!ref_for_same_block(ref1, ref2))
+				continue;
 			if (mode == 1) {
-				if (!ref_for_same_block(ref1, ref2))
-					continue;
 				if (!ref1->parent && ref2->parent) {
 					xchg = ref1;
 					ref1 = ref2;