Story highlights Oliver Minatel, a 22-year-old player from Brazil, was attacked from behind, he says

Witnesses say suspect tried to choke him with the cord from his headphones

Team says forward is OK, will play Saturday night; suspect was taken for evaluation

Atlanta (CNN) A passenger on an Atlanta-bound Air Canada flight told a CNN reporter on the plane Friday that a stranger sitting behind him tried to choke him.

Oliver Minatel, 22, said he was sleeping on Air Canada Flight 8623 from Toronto when he felt something around his neck.

"With a rope, something that he has, he just jumped on me. That's what happened," Minatel told CNN's Paula Newton moments after the incident. She was seated four rows behind Minatel, a professional soccer player traveling with his team.

The incident occurred about a half-hour before the flight landed, after the pilots had begun their descent.

Ottawa Fury Forward Oliver Minatel, 22, a passenger on an Atlanta-bound Air Canada flight, told a CNN reporter on the plane Friday, April 10, 2015, that a stranger sitting behind him tried to choke him.

"I forced it (the cord) down and then other people came to help, and then I got out and he started saying that we were here to kill him," Minatel said.

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