diff --git a/pkg/api/handlers/compat/containers_create.go b/pkg/api/handlers/compat/containers_create.go
index ea5716bbc5..234c101c81 100644
--- a/pkg/api/handlers/compat/containers_create.go
+++ b/pkg/api/handlers/compat/containers_create.go
@@ -287,6 +287,9 @@ func cliOpts(cc handlers.CreateContainerConfig, rtc *config.Config) (*entities.C
 		NoHosts:        rtc.Containers.NoHosts,
 	}
 
+	// sigh docker-compose sets the mac address on the container config instead on the per network endpoint config
+	containerMacAddress := cc.MacAddress
+
 	// network names
 	switch {
 	case len(cc.NetworkingConfig.EndpointsConfig) > 0:
@@ -331,6 +334,16 @@ func cliOpts(cc handlers.CreateContainerConfig, rtc *config.Config) (*entities.C
 						return nil, nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to parse the mac address %q", endpoint.MacAddress)
 					}
 					netOpts.StaticMAC = types.HardwareAddr(staticMac)
+				} else if len(containerMacAddress) > 0 {
+					// docker-compose only sets one mac address for the container on the container config
+					// If there are more than one network attached it will end up on the first one,
+					// which is not deterministic since we iterate a map. Not nice but this matches docker.
+					staticMac, err := net.ParseMAC(containerMacAddress)
+					if err != nil {
+						return nil, nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to parse the mac address %q", containerMacAddress)
+					}
+					netOpts.StaticMAC = types.HardwareAddr(staticMac)
+					containerMacAddress = ""
 				}
 			}
 
diff --git a/test/compose/ipam_set_ip/docker-compose.yml b/test/compose/ipam_set_ip/docker-compose.yml
index d220c02c02..8dffee9964 100644
--- a/test/compose/ipam_set_ip/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/test/compose/ipam_set_ip/docker-compose.yml
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ version: "3.2"
 services:
   test:
     image: alpine
+    mac_address: 32:b5:b2:55:48:72
     networks:
       net1:
         ipv4_address: 10.123.0.253
diff --git a/test/compose/ipam_set_ip/tests.sh b/test/compose/ipam_set_ip/tests.sh
index b9e761ea2c..945303e52a 100644
--- a/test/compose/ipam_set_ip/tests.sh
+++ b/test/compose/ipam_set_ip/tests.sh
@@ -5,4 +5,6 @@ if [ "$TEST_FLAVOR" = "compose_v2" ]; then
     ctr_name="ipam_set_ip-test-1"
 fi
 podman container inspect "$ctr_name" --format '{{ .NetworkSettings.Networks.ipam_set_ip_net1.IPAddress }}'
-like "$output" "10.123.0.253" "$testname : ip address is set"
+is "$output" "10.123.0.253" "$testname : ip address is set"
+podman container inspect "$ctr_name" --format '{{ .NetworkSettings.Networks.ipam_set_ip_net1.MacAddress }}'
+is "$output" "32:b5:b2:55:48:72" "$testname : mac address is set"