diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 78a83a561fa76a8d316f8dc7077e9add88c2790d..acb7b7f418275848d0a488d406c430f6db2a9a7c 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -113,12 +113,15 @@ Autobranch:
 
   script: 
     - |
+      function lisa_python() {
+        "$LISA_PYTHON" "$@"
+      }
       set -e
       export LC_ALL=C
       venv=$(mktemp -d)
-      python3 -m venv "$venv" && source "$venv/bin/activate"
-      $LISA_PYTHON -m pip install --upgrade pip
-      $LISA_PYTHON -m pip install ./tools/lisa-combine-gitlab-mr
+      lisa_python -m venv "$venv" && source "$venv/bin/activate"
+      lisa_python -m pip install --upgrade pip
+      lisa_python -m pip install ./tools/lisa-combine-gitlab-mr
 
       function update_branch() {
           local label=$1