diff --git a/builtin/clean.c b/builtin/clean.c
index 1032563e5f..3c1f4b0908 100644
--- a/builtin/clean.c
+++ b/builtin/clean.c
@@ -940,15 +940,15 @@ int cmd_clean(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 		if (!cache_name_is_other(ent->name, ent->len))
 			continue;
 
-		if (lstat(ent->name, &st))
-			die_errno("Cannot lstat '%s'", ent->name);
-
 		if (pathspec.nr)
 			matches = dir_path_match(ent, &pathspec, 0, NULL);
 
 		if (pathspec.nr && !matches)
 			continue;
 
+		if (lstat(ent->name, &st))
+			die_errno("Cannot lstat '%s'", ent->name);
+
 		if (S_ISDIR(st.st_mode) && !remove_directories &&
 		    matches != MATCHED_EXACTLY)
 			continue;