diff --git a/src/app/components/panelmenu/panelmenu.ts b/src/app/components/panelmenu/panelmenu.ts
index 99676d13748..b3e147e2485 100644
--- a/src/app/components/panelmenu/panelmenu.ts
+++ b/src/app/components/panelmenu/panelmenu.ts
@@ -383,6 +383,16 @@ export class PanelMenuList implements OnChanges {
         return ObjectUtils.findLast(this.visibleItems(), (processedItem) => this.isValidItem(processedItem));
     }
 
+    findItemByEventTarget(target: EventTarget): undefined | any {
+        let parentNode = target as ParentNode & Element;
+
+        while (parentNode && parentNode.tagName?.toLowerCase() !== 'li') {
+            parentNode = parentNode?.parentNode as Element;
+        }
+
+        return parentNode?.id && this.visibleItems().find((processedItem) => this.isValidItem(processedItem) && `${this.panelId}_${processedItem.key}` === parentNode.id);
+    }
+
     createProcessedItems(items, level = 0, parent = {}, parentKey = '') {
         const processedItems = [];
         items &&
@@ -452,7 +462,7 @@ export class PanelMenuList implements OnChanges {
 
     onFocus(event) {
         this.focused = true;
-        const focusedItem = this.focusedItem() || (this.isElementInPanel(event, event.relatedTarget) ? this.findFirstItem() : this.findLastItem());
+        const focusedItem = this.focusedItem() || (this.isElementInPanel(event, event.relatedTarget) ? this.findItemByEventTarget(event.target) || this.findFirstItem() : this.findLastItem());
         if (event.relatedTarget !== null) this.focusedItem.set(focusedItem);
     }