diff --git a/changelog.d/5983.feature b/changelog.d/5983.feature
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..aa23ee6dc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog.d/5983.feature
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Add minimum opentracing for client servlets.
diff --git a/synapse/federation/transport/server.py b/synapse/federation/transport/server.py
index f9930b646..132a8fb5e 100644
--- a/synapse/federation/transport/server.py
+++ b/synapse/federation/transport/server.py
@@ -342,7 +342,11 @@ class BaseFederationServlet(object):
                 continue
 
             server.register_paths(
-                method, (pattern,), self._wrap(code), self.__class__.__name__
+                method,
+                (pattern,),
+                self._wrap(code),
+                self.__class__.__name__,
+                trace=False,
             )
 
 
diff --git a/synapse/http/server.py b/synapse/http/server.py
index e6f351ba3..cb9158fe1 100644
--- a/synapse/http/server.py
+++ b/synapse/http/server.py
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@ from synapse.api.errors import (
     UnrecognizedRequestError,
 )
 from synapse.logging.context import preserve_fn
+from synapse.logging.opentracing import trace_servlet
 from synapse.util.caches import intern_dict
 
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
@@ -257,7 +258,9 @@ class JsonResource(HttpServer, resource.Resource):
         self.path_regexs = {}
         self.hs = hs
 
-    def register_paths(self, method, path_patterns, callback, servlet_classname):
+    def register_paths(
+        self, method, path_patterns, callback, servlet_classname, trace=True
+    ):
         """
         Registers a request handler against a regular expression. Later request URLs are
         checked against these regular expressions in order to identify an appropriate
@@ -273,8 +276,16 @@ class JsonResource(HttpServer, resource.Resource):
 
             servlet_classname (str): The name of the handler to be used in prometheus
                 and opentracing logs.
+
+            trace (bool): Whether we should start a span to trace the servlet.
         """
         method = method.encode("utf-8")  # method is bytes on py3
+
+        if trace:
+            # We don't extract the context from the servlet because we can't
+            # trust the sender
+            callback = trace_servlet(servlet_classname)(callback)
+
         for path_pattern in path_patterns:
             logger.debug("Registering for %s %s", method, path_pattern.pattern)
             self.path_regexs.setdefault(method, []).append(
diff --git a/synapse/http/servlet.py b/synapse/http/servlet.py
index c186b31f5..274c1a6a8 100644
--- a/synapse/http/servlet.py
+++ b/synapse/http/servlet.py
@@ -20,7 +20,6 @@ import logging
 from canonicaljson import json
 
 from synapse.api.errors import Codes, SynapseError
-from synapse.logging.opentracing import trace_servlet
 
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
@@ -298,10 +297,7 @@ class RestServlet(object):
                     servlet_classname = self.__class__.__name__
                     method_handler = getattr(self, "on_%s" % (method,))
                     http_server.register_paths(
-                        method,
-                        patterns,
-                        trace_servlet(servlet_classname)(method_handler),
-                        servlet_classname,
+                        method, patterns, method_handler, servlet_classname
                     )
 
         else:
diff --git a/synapse/logging/opentracing.py b/synapse/logging/opentracing.py
index dbf80e202..2c34b5470 100644
--- a/synapse/logging/opentracing.py
+++ b/synapse/logging/opentracing.py
@@ -319,7 +319,7 @@ def whitelisted_homeserver(destination):
     Args:
         destination (str)
         """
-    _homeserver_whitelist
+
     if _homeserver_whitelist:
         return _homeserver_whitelist.match(destination)
     return False
diff --git a/synapse/replication/http/_base.py b/synapse/replication/http/_base.py
index c4be9273f..afc9a8ff2 100644
--- a/synapse/replication/http/_base.py
+++ b/synapse/replication/http/_base.py
@@ -22,13 +22,13 @@ from six.moves import urllib
 
 from twisted.internet import defer
 
-import synapse.logging.opentracing as opentracing
 from synapse.api.errors import (
     CodeMessageException,
     HttpResponseException,
     RequestSendFailed,
     SynapseError,
 )
+from synapse.logging.opentracing import inject_active_span_byte_dict, trace_servlet
 from synapse.util.caches.response_cache import ResponseCache
 from synapse.util.stringutils import random_string
 
@@ -167,9 +167,7 @@ class ReplicationEndpoint(object):
                 # the master, and so whether we should clean up or not.
                 while True:
                     headers = {}
-                    opentracing.inject_active_span_byte_dict(
-                        headers, None, check_destination=False
-                    )
+                    inject_active_span_byte_dict(headers, None, check_destination=False)
                     try:
                         result = yield request_func(uri, data, headers=headers)
                         break
@@ -210,13 +208,11 @@ class ReplicationEndpoint(object):
         args = "/".join("(?P<%s>[^/]+)" % (arg,) for arg in url_args)
         pattern = re.compile("^/_synapse/replication/%s/%s$" % (self.NAME, args))
 
+        handler = trace_servlet(self.__class__.__name__, extract_context=True)(handler)
+        # We don't let register paths trace this servlet using the default tracing
+        # options because we wish to extract the context explicitly.
         http_server.register_paths(
-            method,
-            [pattern],
-            opentracing.trace_servlet(self.__class__.__name__, extract_context=True)(
-                handler
-            ),
-            self.__class__.__name__,
+            method, [pattern], handler, self.__class__.__name__, trace=False
         )
 
     def _cached_handler(self, request, txn_id, **kwargs):