diff --git a/src/replication.c b/src/replication.c
index 6be5d2631..97ce9608d 100644
--- a/src/replication.c
+++ b/src/replication.c
@@ -1531,6 +1531,11 @@ int slaveTryPartialResynchronization(int fd, int read_reply) {
         /* Setup the replication to continue. */
         sdsfree(reply);
         replicationResurrectCachedMaster(fd);
+
+        /* If this instance was restarted and we read the metadata to
+         * PSYNC from the persistence file, our replication backlog could
+         * be still not initialized. Create it. */
+        if (server.repl_backlog == NULL) createReplicationBacklog();
         return PSYNC_CONTINUE;
     }