diff --git a/pkg/specgen/generate/pod_create.go b/pkg/specgen/generate/pod_create.go
index 727c24bdbb..1988eeb7ac 100644
--- a/pkg/specgen/generate/pod_create.go
+++ b/pkg/specgen/generate/pod_create.go
@@ -18,7 +18,15 @@ import (
 	"github.com/sirupsen/logrus"
 )
 
-func MakePod(p *entities.PodSpec, rt *libpod.Runtime) (*libpod.Pod, error) {
+func MakePod(p *entities.PodSpec, rt *libpod.Runtime) (_ *libpod.Pod, finalErr error) {
+	var createdPod *libpod.Pod
+	defer func() {
+		if finalErr != nil && createdPod != nil {
+			if err := rt.RemovePod(context.Background(), createdPod, true, true, nil); err != nil {
+				logrus.Errorf("Removing pod: %v", err)
+			}
+		}
+	}()
 	if err := p.PodSpecGen.Validate(); err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
@@ -69,6 +77,8 @@ func MakePod(p *entities.PodSpec, rt *libpod.Runtime) (*libpod.Pod, error) {
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
+	createdPod = pod
+
 	if !p.PodSpecGen.NoInfra && p.PodSpecGen.InfraContainerSpec != nil {
 		if p.PodSpecGen.InfraContainerSpec.Name == "" {
 			p.PodSpecGen.InfraContainerSpec.Name = pod.ID()[:12] + "-infra"
diff --git a/test/system/200-pod.bats b/test/system/200-pod.bats
index 764e5c0887..d831ca1200 100644
--- a/test/system/200-pod.bats
+++ b/test/system/200-pod.bats
@@ -554,4 +554,17 @@ io.max          | $lomajmin rbps=1048576 wbps=1048576 riops=max wiops=max
     is "$output" "" "Should print no output"
 }
 
+@test "podman pod create on failure" {
+    podname=pod$(random_string)
+    nwname=pod$(random_string)
+
+    run_podman 125 pod create --network $nwname --name $podname
+    # FIXME: podman and podman-remote do not return the same error message
+    # but consistency would be nice
+    is "$output" "Error: .*unable to find network with name or ID $nwname: network not found"
+
+    # Make sure the pod doesn't get created on failure
+    run_podman 1 pod exists $podname
+}
+
 # vim: filetype=sh