diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/esql/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/esql/optimizer/LogicalPlanOptimizerTests.java b/x-pack/plugin/esql/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/esql/optimizer/LogicalPlanOptimizerTests.java
index fd2f4333cc5f4..d34516d0d6c52 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/esql/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/esql/optimizer/LogicalPlanOptimizerTests.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/esql/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/esql/optimizer/LogicalPlanOptimizerTests.java
@@ -4911,8 +4911,7 @@ public void testPlanSanityCheckWithBinaryPlans() throws Exception {
             """);
 
         var project = as(plan, Project.class);
-        var limit = as(project.child(), Limit.class);
-        var join = as(limit.child(), Join.class);
+        var join = as(project.child(), Join.class);
 
         var joinWithInvalidLeftPlan = join.replaceChildren(join.right(), join.right());
         IllegalStateException e = expectThrows(IllegalStateException.class, () -> logicalOptimizer.optimize(joinWithInvalidLeftPlan));