diff --git a/modules/caddyhttp/celmatcher.go b/modules/caddyhttp/celmatcher.go
index 0118cc7c8..e01995039 100644
--- a/modules/caddyhttp/celmatcher.go
+++ b/modules/caddyhttp/celmatcher.go
@@ -243,25 +243,29 @@ func (m *MatchExpression) UnmarshalCaddyfile(d *caddyfile.Dispenser) error {
 	// CEL expression (e.g. strings) and we should retain that
 	if d.CountRemainingArgs() > 1 {
 		m.Expr = strings.Join(d.RemainingArgsRaw(), " ")
-		return nil
+	} else {
+		// there should at least be one arg
+		if !d.NextArg() {
+			return d.ArgErr()
+		}
+
+		// if there's only one token, then we can safely grab the
+		// cleaned token (no quotes) and use that as the expression
+		// because there's no valid CEL expression that is only a
+		// quoted string; commonly quotes are used in Caddyfile to
+		// define the expression
+		m.Expr = d.Val()
+
+		// use the named matcher's name, to fill regexp
+		// matchers names by default
+		m.Name = d.GetContextString(caddyfile.MatcherNameCtxKey)
 	}
 
-	// there should at least be one arg
-	if !d.NextArg() {
-		return d.ArgErr()
+	// a matcher set holds only one expression matcher
+	if d.Next() {
+		return d.Err("repeated expression matchers are not supported, combine them into one expression with &&")
 	}
 
-	// if there's only one token, then we can safely grab the
-	// cleaned token (no quotes) and use that as the expression
-	// because there's no valid CEL expression that is only a
-	// quoted string; commonly quotes are used in Caddyfile to
-	// define the expression
-	m.Expr = d.Val()
-
-	// use the named matcher's name, to fill regexp
-	// matchers names by default
-	m.Name = d.GetContextString(caddyfile.MatcherNameCtxKey)
-
 	return nil
 }
 
diff --git a/modules/caddyhttp/celmatcher_test.go b/modules/caddyhttp/celmatcher_test.go
index 3e44fbbc9..7c8e706d3 100644
--- a/modules/caddyhttp/celmatcher_test.go
+++ b/modules/caddyhttp/celmatcher_test.go
@@ -21,9 +21,11 @@ import (
 	"encoding/pem"
 	"net/http"
 	"net/http/httptest"
+	"strings"
 	"testing"
 
 	"github.com/caddyserver/caddy/v2"
+	"github.com/caddyserver/caddy/v2/caddyconfig/caddyfile"
 )
 
 var (
@@ -605,3 +607,20 @@ func TestMatchExpressionProvision(t *testing.T) {
 		})
 	}
 }
+
+func TestMatchExpressionUnmarshalCaddyfileRepeated(t *testing.T) {
+	for _, input := range []string{`
+		expression {http.request.method} == 'GET'
+		expression {http.request.uri.path}.startsWith('/public/')
+	`, `
+		expression "{http.request.method} == 'GET'"
+		expression {http.request.uri.path}.startsWith('/public/')
+	`} {
+		d := caddyfile.NewTestDispenser(input)
+		m := new(MatchExpression)
+		err := m.UnmarshalCaddyfile(d)
+		if err == nil || !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "repeated expression matchers are not supported") {
+			t.Errorf("UnmarshalCaddyfile() error = %v, want repeated expression error (expression: %s)", err, m.Expr)
+		}
+	}
+}