Shakhter Karagandy will not sacrifice sheep ahead of second-leg Champions League qualifier against Celtic

Anthony Stokes celebrates scoring his second goal of the day during the Scottish Premier League game between Celtic and Ross County at Celtic Park Stadium on August 03, 2013 in Glasgow, Scotland. (Getty Images)

Kazakh champions Shakhter Karagandy will refrain from their sheep sacrificing practice ahead of its UEFA Champions League second-leg qualifier against Celtic on Wednesday.

The Kazakh champions caused a storm last week when they performed the ritual before their win over Celtic, causing PETA to express its anger to UEFA president Michael Platini in a strongly-worded letter, calling for the organization to penalise Shakhter.

Club boss Viktor Kumykov indicated in a press conference that it would happen again.

However a Celtic spokesperson said: “Clearly this would not happen.”

“Shakhter have spoken to the club and said this is a misunderstanding and made it clear they have no intention whatsoever of doing anything like this.”

Earlier Kumykov’s pre-match press conference at Celtic Park on Tuesday afternoon took a sharp turn when the subject was brought up.

Speaking with the help of a translator, the Russian said: “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.”

Asked whether the ritual would take place, he responded: “Possibly, yes.”

When asked where the sheep would be supplied from, Kumykov, to laughter, replied: “As far as we know in Scotland the agriculture is very developed so it shouldn’t be an issue to find a sheep.”

The Shakhter boss, though, played down the effects the pre-match ritual had had on the first game in Kazakhstan.

He said: “Of course this tradition may have certain psychological impact on players that can help them to relax before the game.

“But obviously, what really matters is on the football pitch, the game and the final score and you know we scored twice in the first leg and Celtic failed to score, that’s what really matters.”

Animal protection group, OneKind, had voiced its distaste over the possibility of plans to continue the ritual.

OneKind’s CEO John Brady said: “The arrogance of the Kazakhstan side is really quite staggering if they think they can continue with their bizarre and unnecessary rituals while in a country known to be a nation of animal lovers.

“It is quite clear there will be a backlash from this horrific practice, which has nothing whatsoever to do with football or sport.

“Surely it’s not too much to ask for the visiting side to be respectful of people’s views and feelings, not to mention strict laws on animal slaughter, while they are playing on our soil.”