diff --git a/src/libsystemd/sd-netlink/netlink-internal.h b/src/libsystemd/sd-netlink/netlink-internal.h
index 4a366d421f..13e7ab6e17 100644
--- a/src/libsystemd/sd-netlink/netlink-internal.h
+++ b/src/libsystemd/sd-netlink/netlink-internal.h
@@ -116,8 +116,6 @@ struct netlink_container {
 struct sd_netlink_message {
         unsigned n_ref;
 
-        sd_netlink *rtnl;
-
         int protocol;
 
         struct nlmsghdr *hdr;