Shakhter Karagandy coach Viktor Kumykov is not ruling out sacrificing a sheep again before Wednesday's game against Celtic in Glasgow.
But the Scottish SPCA has warned that any slaughter held outside a licensed premises would be a criminal offence. Shakhter carried out such a ceremony before the first leg in Kazakhstan.
Asked if his club planned a ceremony for the second leg, Kumykov said: "Possibly, yes. It shouldn't be too difficult finding a sheep in Scotland."
Animal rights group Peta wrote to football governing body Uefa urging president Michel Platini to punish Shakhter after they sacrificed a sheep at the Astana Arena ahead of their 2-0 victory. And Scotland For Animals urged the public to complain to Celtic in an attempt to prevent a repeat ceremony in Scotland.
Speaking through an interpreter, Kumykov defended the ritual, saying: "All I can say is that every team and every club has its own pre-match traditions and rituals.
"Celtic must have their own. We will try to respect our traditions and those traditions have been in place even before we came to the club."
When quizzed on where he planned to find a sheep, Kumykov replied: "As far as we know, in Scotland the agriculture is very developed, so it shouldn't be an issue to find a sheep."
