diff --git a/src/linker/Linker.Steps/UnreachableBlocksOptimizer.cs b/src/linker/Linker.Steps/UnreachableBlocksOptimizer.cs
index 8e8fda213e32..d91fb09dd920 100644
--- a/src/linker/Linker.Steps/UnreachableBlocksOptimizer.cs
+++ b/src/linker/Linker.Steps/UnreachableBlocksOptimizer.cs
@@ -806,6 +806,9 @@ public bool ApplyTemporaryInlining (in UnreachableBlocksOptimizer optimizer)
 				return changed;
 			}
 
+			static bool IsConditionalBranch (OpCode opCode)
+			=> opCode.Code is Code.Brfalse or Code.Brfalse_S or Code.Brtrue or Code.Brtrue_S;
+
 			void RemoveUnreachableInstructions (BitArray reachable)
 			{
 				LinkerILProcessor processor = Body.GetLinkerILProcessor ();
@@ -815,8 +818,22 @@ void RemoveUnreachableInstructions (BitArray reachable)
 					if (reachable[i])
 						continue;
 
-					processor.RemoveAt (i - removed);
-					++removed;
+					int index = i - removed;
+					// If we intend to remove the last instruction we replaced it with "ret" above (not "nop")
+					// but we can't get rid of it completely because it may happen that the last kept instruction
+					// is a conditional branch - in which case to keep the IL valid, there has to be something after
+					// the conditional branch instruction (the else branch). So if that's the case
+					// inject "ldnull; throw;" at the end - this branch should never be reachable and it's always valid
+					// (ret may need to return a value of the right type if the method has a return value which is complicated
+					// to construct out of nothing).
+					if (index == Body.Instructions.Count - 1 && Body.Instructions[index].OpCode == OpCodes.Ret &&
+						index > 0 && IsConditionalBranch (Body.Instructions[index - 1].OpCode)) {
+						processor.Replace (index, Instruction.Create (OpCodes.Ldnull));
+						processor.InsertAfter (Body.Instructions[index], Instruction.Create (OpCodes.Throw));
+					} else {
+						processor.RemoveAt (index);
+						++removed;
+					}
 				}
 			}
 
diff --git a/test/Mono.Linker.Tests.Cases/UnreachableBlock/ReplacedJumpTarget.cs b/test/Mono.Linker.Tests.Cases/UnreachableBlock/ReplacedJumpTarget.cs
index 5c7ee375fe1b..90d9a3e7ea2c 100644
--- a/test/Mono.Linker.Tests.Cases/UnreachableBlock/ReplacedJumpTarget.cs
+++ b/test/Mono.Linker.Tests.Cases/UnreachableBlock/ReplacedJumpTarget.cs
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 using System;
-using System.Reflection.Emit;
 using Mono.Linker.Tests.Cases.Expectations.Assertions;
 using Mono.Linker.Tests.Cases.Expectations.Metadata;
 
@@ -12,6 +11,7 @@ public class ReplacedJumpTarget
 		public static void Main ()
 		{
 			Test_1 (int.Parse ("91"));
+			TestRemovedLastBranch (int.Parse ("92"));
 		}
 
 		[Kept]
@@ -73,5 +73,36 @@ static int Test_1 (int value)
 		}
 
 		static int Value => 2;
+
+		[Kept]
+		[ExpectedInstructionSequence (new[] {
+			"br.s il_3",
+			"ret",
+			"ldc.i4.1",
+			"brtrue.s il_2",
+			"ldnull",
+			"throw"
+			})]
+		static void TestRemovedLastBranch (int param)
+		{
+			goto DoWork;
+
+		ReturnFromMethod:
+			return;
+
+		DoWork:
+			if (AlwaysTrue) {
+				goto ReturnFromMethod;
+			} else { // This branch will be removed
+				DoSomething ();
+				goto ReturnFromMethod;
+			}
+		}
+
+		static void DoSomething ()
+		{
+		}
+
+		static bool AlwaysTrue => true;
 	}
 }
\ No newline at end of file