diff --git a/hw/block/dataplane/xen-block.c b/hw/block/dataplane/xen-block.c
index acd23a74a8..35bfccfba7 100644
--- a/hw/block/dataplane/xen-block.c
+++ b/hw/block/dataplane/xen-block.c
@@ -55,11 +55,9 @@ struct XenBlockDataPlane {
     blkif_back_rings_t rings;
     int more_work;
     QLIST_HEAD(inflight_head, XenBlockRequest) inflight;
-    QLIST_HEAD(finished_head, XenBlockRequest) finished;
     QLIST_HEAD(freelist_head, XenBlockRequest) freelist;
     int requests_total;
     int requests_inflight;
-    int requests_finished;
     unsigned int max_requests;
     BlockBackend *blk;
     QEMUBH *bh;
@@ -116,12 +114,10 @@ static void xen_block_finish_request(XenBlockRequest *request)
     XenBlockDataPlane *dataplane = request->dataplane;
 
     QLIST_REMOVE(request, list);
-    QLIST_INSERT_HEAD(&dataplane->finished, request, list);
     dataplane->requests_inflight--;
-    dataplane->requests_finished++;
 }
 
-static void xen_block_release_request(XenBlockRequest *request, bool finish)
+static void xen_block_release_request(XenBlockRequest *request)
 {
     XenBlockDataPlane *dataplane = request->dataplane;
 
@@ -129,11 +125,7 @@ static void xen_block_release_request(XenBlockRequest *request, bool finish)
     reset_request(request);
     request->dataplane = dataplane;
     QLIST_INSERT_HEAD(&dataplane->freelist, request, list);
-    if (finish) {
-        dataplane->requests_finished--;
-    } else {
-        dataplane->requests_inflight--;
-    }
+    dataplane->requests_inflight--;
 }
 
 /*
@@ -248,6 +240,7 @@ static int xen_block_copy_request(XenBlockRequest *request)
 }
 
 static int xen_block_do_aio(XenBlockRequest *request);
+static int xen_block_send_response(XenBlockRequest *request);
 
 static void xen_block_complete_aio(void *opaque, int ret)
 {
@@ -312,6 +305,18 @@ static void xen_block_complete_aio(void *opaque, int ret)
     default:
         break;
     }
+    if (xen_block_send_response(request)) {
+        Error *local_err = NULL;
+
+        xen_device_notify_event_channel(dataplane->xendev,
+                                        dataplane->event_channel,
+                                        &local_err);
+        if (local_err) {
+            error_report_err(local_err);
+        }
+    }
+    xen_block_release_request(request);
+
     qemu_bh_schedule(dataplane->bh);
 
 done:
@@ -419,7 +424,7 @@ err:
     return -1;
 }
 
-static int xen_block_send_response_one(XenBlockRequest *request)
+static int xen_block_send_response(XenBlockRequest *request)
 {
     XenBlockDataPlane *dataplane = request->dataplane;
     int send_notify = 0;
@@ -474,29 +479,6 @@ static int xen_block_send_response_one(XenBlockRequest *request)
     return send_notify;
 }
 
-/* walk finished list, send outstanding responses, free requests */
-static void xen_block_send_response_all(XenBlockDataPlane *dataplane)
-{
-    XenBlockRequest *request;
-    int send_notify = 0;
-
-    while (!QLIST_EMPTY(&dataplane->finished)) {
-        request = QLIST_FIRST(&dataplane->finished);
-        send_notify += xen_block_send_response_one(request);
-        xen_block_release_request(request, true);
-    }
-    if (send_notify) {
-        Error *local_err = NULL;
-
-        xen_device_notify_event_channel(dataplane->xendev,
-                                        dataplane->event_channel,
-                                        &local_err);
-        if (local_err) {
-            error_report_err(local_err);
-        }
-    }
-}
-
 static int xen_block_get_request(XenBlockDataPlane *dataplane,
                                  XenBlockRequest *request, RING_IDX rc)
 {
@@ -547,7 +529,6 @@ static void xen_block_handle_requests(XenBlockDataPlane *dataplane)
     rp = dataplane->rings.common.sring->req_prod;
     xen_rmb(); /* Ensure we see queued requests up to 'rp'. */
 
-    xen_block_send_response_all(dataplane);
     /*
      * If there was more than IO_PLUG_THRESHOLD requests in flight
      * when we got here, this is an indication that there the bottleneck
@@ -591,7 +572,7 @@ static void xen_block_handle_requests(XenBlockDataPlane *dataplane)
                 break;
             };
 
-            if (xen_block_send_response_one(request)) {
+            if (xen_block_send_response(request)) {
                 Error *local_err = NULL;
 
                 xen_device_notify_event_channel(dataplane->xendev,
@@ -601,7 +582,7 @@ static void xen_block_handle_requests(XenBlockDataPlane *dataplane)
                     error_report_err(local_err);
                 }
             }
-            xen_block_release_request(request, false);
+            xen_block_release_request(request);
             continue;
         }
 
@@ -657,7 +638,6 @@ XenBlockDataPlane *xen_block_dataplane_create(XenDevice *xendev,
     dataplane->file_size = blk_getlength(dataplane->blk);
 
     QLIST_INIT(&dataplane->inflight);
-    QLIST_INIT(&dataplane->finished);
     QLIST_INIT(&dataplane->freelist);
 
     if (iothread) {