diff --git a/roles/download/tasks/check_pull_required.yml b/roles/download/tasks/check_pull_required.yml
deleted file mode 100644
index 58501312572..00000000000
--- a/roles/download/tasks/check_pull_required.yml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,25 +0,0 @@
----
-# The image_info_command depends on the Container Runtime and will output something like the following:
-# nginx:1.15,gcr.io/google-containers/kube-proxy:v1.14.1,gcr.io/google-containers/kube-proxy@sha256:44af2833c6cbd9a7fc2e9d2f5244a39dfd2e31ad91bf9d4b7d810678db738ee9,gcr.io/google-containers/kube-apiserver:v1.14.1,etc...
-- name: Check_pull_required |  Generate a list of information about the images on a node  # noqa command-instead-of-shell - image_info_command contains a pipe, therefore requiring shell
-  shell: "{{ image_info_command }}"
-  register: docker_images
-  changed_when: false
-  check_mode: false
-  when: not download_always_pull
-
-- name: Check_pull_required | Set pull_required if the desired image is not yet loaded
-  set_fact:
-    pull_required: >-
-      {%- if image_reponame | regex_replace('^docker\.io/(library/)?', '') in docker_images.stdout.split(',') %}false{%- else -%}true{%- endif -%}
-  when: not download_always_pull
-
-- name: Check_pull_required | Check that the local digest sha256 corresponds to the given image tag
-  assert:
-    that: "{{ download.repo }}:{{ download.tag }} in docker_images.stdout.split(',')"
-  when:
-    - not download_always_pull
-    - not pull_required
-    - pull_by_digest
-  tags:
-    - asserts
diff --git a/roles/download/tasks/download_container.yml b/roles/download/tasks/download_container.yml
index 5e67fe8c550..1f2a070ae20 100644
--- a/roles/download/tasks/download_container.yml
+++ b/roles/download/tasks/download_container.yml
@@ -15,11 +15,6 @@
       tags:
         - facts
 
-    - name: Download_container | Prepare container download
-      include_tasks: check_pull_required.yml
-      when:
-        - not download_always_pull
-
     - debug:  # noqa name[missing]
         msg: "Pull {{ image_reponame }} required is: {{ pull_required }}"
 
diff --git a/roles/download/tasks/main.yml b/roles/download/tasks/main.yml
index 93f8bb55acb..575578cfc75 100644
--- a/roles/download/tasks/main.yml
+++ b/roles/download/tasks/main.yml
@@ -16,6 +16,39 @@
     - download
     - upload
 
+- name: Download | Check if image command tool exists
+  command: "{{ image_command_tool }} --version"
+  register: image_command_tool_exists
+  changed_when: false
+  failed_when: false
+
+- name: Download | Check if image command tool exists
+  stat:
+    path: "{{ bin_dir }}/{{ image_command_tool }}"
+    get_attributes: false
+    get_checksum: false
+    get_mime: false
+  register: image_command_tool_exists
+  changed_when: false
+
+- name: Download | Process and download required files and images
+  when:
+    - not (download_always_pull or skip_downloads) | default(false)
+    - image_command_tool_exists.stat.exists
+  block:
+    - name: Download | Get image list from node
+      command: "{{ image_info_command }}"
+      register: node_images_raw
+      changed_when: false
+      check_mode: false
+    - name: Download | Set node_images
+      include_tasks: "{{ include_file }}"
+      vars:
+        include_file: "set_node_facts{% if image_command_tool == 'crictl' %}_crictl{% endif %}.yml"
+    - name: Download | Show node images
+      debug:
+        msg: "{{ node_images }}"
+
 - name: Download | Download files / images
   include_tasks: "{{ include_file }}"
   loop: "{{ downloads | combine(kubeadm_images) | dict2items }}"
@@ -26,5 +59,29 @@
     - not skip_downloads | default(false)
     - download.enabled
     - item.value.enabled
-    - (not (item.value.container | default(false))) or (item.value.container and download_container)
+    - >
+      (
+        not (
+          item.value.container | default(false)
+        )
+      )
+      or (
+        item.value.container and
+        download_container and
+        (
+          not (
+            (
+                node_images | selectattr('Repository', 'equalto', (item.value.repo | regex_replace('^docker\.io/(library/)?', ''))) | selectattr('Tag', 'equalto', item.value.tag) | list | length > 0
+            )
+            or (
+              node_images | selectattr('Digest', 'equalto', 'sha256:' ~ (item.value.sha256 | default(None))) | list | length > 0
+            )
+          )
+          or download_always_pull
+        )
+      )
     - (download_run_once and inventory_hostname == download_delegate) or (group_names | intersect(download.groups) | length)
+
+- name: Download | Show downloads
+  debug:
+    msg: "{{ downloads }}"
diff --git a/roles/download/tasks/set_node_facts.yml b/roles/download/tasks/set_node_facts.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..7afbacebbe3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/roles/download/tasks/set_node_facts.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+---
+# In case of nerdctl or docker, the output is already in the expected format
+# {"Digest":"sha256:847423221ed040798e47df36450edce5581ed642cd087ccb210532764da38b23","Repository":"quay.io/coreos/etcd","Tag":"v3.5.12"}
+# {"Digest":"sha256:34fc87c4a60c0b3ba3b3608871f4494de8072c02808a4151953068f2d7c87743","Repository":"flannel/flannel","Tag":"latest"}
+- name: Download | Set node_images (nerdctl, docker)
+  set_fact:
+    node_images: "{{ node_images_raw.stdout_lines | map('from_json') | list }}"
diff --git a/roles/download/tasks/set_node_facts_crictl.yml b/roles/download/tasks/set_node_facts_crictl.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..2609c7bde80
--- /dev/null
+++ b/roles/download/tasks/set_node_facts_crictl.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+---
+- name: Download | Set node_images (crictl)
+  set_fact:
+    node_images: >-
+      {{
+        (node_images | default([])) +
+        [{'Digest': (item.repoDigests[0] | split('@'))[1], 'Repository': ((item.repoTags[0] | split(':'))[0] | regex_replace('^docker\.io/(library/)?', '')), 'Tag': (item.repoTags[0] | split(':'))[1]}]
+      }}
+  with_items: "{{ (node_images_raw.stdout | from_json).images }}"
diff --git a/roles/download/vars/main.yml b/roles/download/vars/main.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..40f32977de9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/roles/download/vars/main.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+---
+node_images: []
+
+docker_image_pull_command: "{{ docker_bin_dir }}/docker pull"
+docker_image_info_command: "{{ docker_bin_dir }}/docker images --format='{\"Digest\":\"{{ '{{' }}.Digest{{ '}}' }}\",\"Repository\":\"{{ '{{' }}.Repository{{ '}}' }}\",\"Tag\":\"{{ '{{' }}.Tag{{ '}}' }}\"}'"
+nerdctl_image_info_command: "{{ bin_dir }}/nerdctl images --format='{\"Digest\":\"{{ '{{' }}.Digest{{ '}}' }}\",\"Repository\":\"{{ '{{' }}.Repository{{ '}}' }}\",\"Tag\":\"{{ '{{' }}.Tag{{ '}}' }}\"}'"
+# Using the ctr instead of nerdctl to workdaround the https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/kubespray/issues/10670
+nerdctl_image_pull_command: "{{ bin_dir }}/ctr -n k8s.io images pull{% if containerd_registries_mirrors is defined %} --hosts-dir {{ containerd_cfg_dir }}/certs.d{%- endif -%}"
+crictl_image_info_command: "{{ bin_dir }}/crictl images --output json"
+crictl_image_pull_command: "{{ bin_dir }}/crictl pull"
+
+image_command_tool: "{%- if container_manager == 'containerd' -%}nerdctl{%- elif container_manager == 'crio' -%}crictl{%- else -%}{{ container_manager }}{%- endif -%}"
+image_command_tool_on_localhost: "{{ image_command_tool }}"
+
+image_pull_command: "{{ lookup('vars', image_command_tool + '_image_pull_command') }}"
+image_info_command: "{{ lookup('vars', image_command_tool + '_image_info_command') }}"
+image_pull_command_on_localhost: "{{ lookup('vars', image_command_tool_on_localhost + '_image_pull_command') }}"
+image_info_command_on_localhost: "{{ lookup('vars', image_command_tool_on_localhost + '_image_info_command') }}"
diff --git a/roles/kubespray-defaults/defaults/main/download.yml b/roles/kubespray-defaults/defaults/main/download.yml
index 8c3954c80e6..6e8cf7ba461 100644
--- a/roles/kubespray-defaults/defaults/main/download.yml
+++ b/roles/kubespray-defaults/defaults/main/download.yml
@@ -53,23 +53,6 @@ download_delegate: "{% if download_localhost %}localhost{% else %}{{ groups['kub
 # Allow control the times of download retries for files and containers
 download_retries: 4
 
-# The docker_image_info_command might seems weird but we are using raw/endraw and `{{ `{{` }}` to manage the double jinja2 processing
-docker_image_pull_command: "{{ docker_bin_dir }}/docker pull"
-docker_image_info_command: "{{ docker_bin_dir }}/docker images -q | xargs -i {{ '{{' }} docker_bin_dir }}/docker inspect -f {% raw %}'{{ '{{' }} if .RepoTags }}{{ '{{' }} join .RepoTags \",\" }}{{ '{{' }} end }}{{ '{{' }} if .RepoDigests }},{{ '{{' }} join .RepoDigests \",\" }}{{ '{{' }} end }}' {% endraw %} {} | tr '\n' ','"
-nerdctl_image_info_command: "{{ bin_dir }}/nerdctl -n k8s.io images --format '{% raw %}{{ .Repository }}:{{ .Tag }}{% endraw %}' 2>/dev/null | grep -v ^:$ | tr '\n' ','"
-# Using the ctr instead of nerdctl to workdaround the https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/kubespray/issues/10670
-nerdctl_image_pull_command: "{{ bin_dir }}/ctr -n k8s.io images pull{% if containerd_registries_mirrors is defined %} --hosts-dir {{ containerd_cfg_dir }}/certs.d{%- endif -%}"
-crictl_image_info_command: "{{ bin_dir }}/crictl images --verbose | awk -F ': ' '/RepoTags|RepoDigests/ {print $2}' | tr '\n' ','"
-crictl_image_pull_command: "{{ bin_dir }}/crictl pull"
-
-image_command_tool: "{%- if container_manager == 'containerd' -%}nerdctl{%- elif container_manager == 'crio' -%}crictl{%- else -%}{{ container_manager }}{%- endif -%}"
-image_command_tool_on_localhost: "{{ image_command_tool }}"
-
-image_pull_command: "{{ lookup('vars', image_command_tool + '_image_pull_command') }}"
-image_info_command: "{{ lookup('vars', image_command_tool + '_image_info_command') }}"
-image_pull_command_on_localhost: "{{ lookup('vars', image_command_tool_on_localhost + '_image_pull_command') }}"
-image_info_command_on_localhost: "{{ lookup('vars', image_command_tool_on_localhost + '_image_info_command') }}"
-
 # Arch of Docker images and needed packages
 image_arch: "{{ host_architecture | default('amd64') }}"