diff --git a/pkg/systemd/quadlet/quadlet.go b/pkg/systemd/quadlet/quadlet.go
index 237139e68d..5ad6c05fe8 100644
--- a/pkg/systemd/quadlet/quadlet.go
+++ b/pkg/systemd/quadlet/quadlet.go
@@ -287,13 +287,15 @@ func ConvertContainer(container *parser.UnitFile, isUser bool) (*parser.UnitFile
 	// Need the containers filesystem mounted to start podman
 	service.Add(UnitGroup, "RequiresMountsFor", "%t/containers")
 
-	// If the conman exited uncleanly it may not have removed the container, so force it,
-	// -i makes it ignore non-existing files.
+	// If conmon exited uncleanly it may not have removed the container, so
+	// force it, -i makes it ignore non-existing files.
+	service.Add(ServiceGroup, "ExecStop", podmanBinary()+" rm -f -i --cidfile=%t/%N.cid")
+	// The ExecStopPost is needed when the main PID (i.e., conmon) gets killed.
+	// In that case, ExecStop is not executed but *Post only.  If both are
+	// fired in sequence, *Post will exit when detecting that the --cidfile
+	// has already been removed by the previous `rm`..
 	service.Add(ServiceGroup, "ExecStopPost", "-"+podmanBinary()+" rm -f -i --cidfile=%t/%N.cid")
 
-	// Remove the cid file, to avoid confusion as the container is no longer running.
-	service.Add(ServiceGroup, "ExecStopPost", "-rm -f %t/%N.cid")
-
 	podman := NewPodmanCmdline("run")
 
 	podman.addf("--name=%s", containerName)
diff --git a/test/e2e/quadlet/basic.container b/test/e2e/quadlet/basic.container
index 794ded61e3..3896f28c93 100644
--- a/test/e2e/quadlet/basic.container
+++ b/test/e2e/quadlet/basic.container
@@ -14,7 +14,8 @@
 ## assert-key-is "Service" "Type" "notify"
 ## assert-key-is "Service" "NotifyAccess" "all"
 ## assert-key-is "Service" "SyslogIdentifier" "%N"
-## assert-key-is-regex "Service" "ExecStopPost" "-.*/podman rm -f -i --cidfile=%t/%N.cid" "-rm -f %t/%N.cid"
+## assert-key-is-regex "Service" "ExecStopPost" "-.*/podman rm -f -i --cidfile=%t/%N.cid"
+## assert-key-is-regex "Service" "ExecStop" ".*/podman rm -f -i --cidfile=%t/%N.cid"
 ## assert-key-is "Service" "Environment" "PODMAN_SYSTEMD_UNIT=%n"
 
 [Container]