diff --git a/git-difftool.perl b/git-difftool.perl
index 0a90de414646b901e13abbf89aa78ae71e8b12f0..3cab257595a5f4dd50c474733a39f76bc897eb4e 100755
--- a/git-difftool.perl
+++ b/git-difftool.perl
@@ -209,7 +209,9 @@ sub setup_dir_diff
 	delete($ENV{GIT_INDEX_FILE});
 
 	# Changes in the working tree need special treatment since they are
-	# not part of the index
+	# not part of the index. Remove any trailing slash from $workdir
+	# before starting to avoid double slashes in symlink targets.
+	$workdir =~ s|/$||;
 	for my $file (@working_tree) {
 		my $dir = dirname($file);
 		unless (-d "$rdir/$dir") {