diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 219e46f47..c38c35b12 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
     Bug #2835: Player able to slowly move when overencumbered
     Bug #2852: No murder bounty when a player follower commits murder
     Bug #2862: [macOS] Can't quit launcher using Command-Q or OpenMW->Quit
+    Bug #2872: Tab completion in console doesn't work with explicit reference
     Bug #2971: Compiler did not reject lines with naked expressions beginning with x.y
     Bug #3249: Fixed revert function not updating views properly
     Bug #3374: Touch spells not hitting kwama foragers
diff --git a/apps/openmw/mwgui/console.cpp b/apps/openmw/mwgui/console.cpp
index e8ac33f6d..b367c6f49 100644
--- a/apps/openmw/mwgui/console.cpp
+++ b/apps/openmw/mwgui/console.cpp
@@ -303,6 +303,14 @@ namespace MWGui
         bool has_front_quote = false;
 
         /* Does the input string contain things that don't have to be completed? If yes erase them. */
+
+        /* Erase a possible call to an explicit reference. */
+        size_t explicitPos = tmp.find("->");
+        if (explicitPos != std::string::npos)
+        {
+            tmp.erase(0, explicitPos+2);
+        }
+
         /* Are there quotation marks? */
         if( tmp.find('"') != std::string::npos ) {
             int numquotes=0;
@@ -339,6 +347,7 @@ namespace MWGui
                 }
             }
         }
+
         /* Erase the input from the output string so we can easily append the completed form later. */
         output.erase(output.end()-tmp.length(), output.end());