diff --git a/hw/virtio-blk.c b/hw/virtio-blk.c
index e74455b..a7b1146 100644
--- a/hw/virtio-blk.c
+++ b/hw/virtio-blk.c
@@ -104,8 +104,7 @@
 static VirtIOBlockReq *virtio_blk_alloc_request(VirtIOBlock *s)
 {
     VirtIOBlockReq *req = qemu_mallocz(sizeof(*req));
-    if (req != NULL)
-        req->dev = s;
+    req->dev = s;
     return req;
 }