diff --git a/src/functions.c b/src/functions.c
index 19d0d0c11e..c40761865e 100644
--- a/src/functions.c
+++ b/src/functions.c
@@ -963,6 +963,7 @@ sds functionsCreateWithLibraryCtx(sds code, int replace, sds* err, functionsLibC
 
     old_li = dictFetchValue(lib_ctx->libraries, md.name);
     if (old_li && !replace) {
+        old_li = NULL;
         *err = sdscatfmt(sdsempty(), "Library '%S' already exists", md.name);
         goto error;
     }
diff --git a/tests/unit/functions.tcl b/tests/unit/functions.tcl
index 62c070f906..e9aeda16bf 100644
--- a/tests/unit/functions.tcl
+++ b/tests/unit/functions.tcl
@@ -1141,6 +1141,23 @@ start_server {tags {"scripting"}} {
         r function stats
     } {running_script {} engines {LUA {libraries_count 1 functions_count 1}}}
 
+    test {FUNCTION - test function stats on loading failure} {
+        r FUNCTION FLUSH
+
+        r FUNCTION load {#!lua name=test1
+            redis.register_function('f1', function() return 1 end)
+            redis.register_function('f2', function() return 1 end)
+        }
+
+        catch {r FUNCTION load {#!lua name=test1
+            redis.register_function('f3', function() return 1 end)
+        }} e
+        assert_match "*Library 'test1' already exists*" $e
+        
+
+        r function stats
+    } {running_script {} engines {LUA {libraries_count 1 functions_count 2}}}
+
     test {FUNCTION - function stats cleaned after flush} {
         r function flush
         r function stats