As the game’s clear favourites, Porto made a positive start to proceedings at the Estadio do Dragao, with Martim Fernandes forcing Robin Olsen into his first piece of action of what proved to be a busy first half.
With Porto expected to beat the Swedish visitors, there was perhaps an element of complacency in Jakub Kiwior’s loose pass out from a goal-kick, with the Arsenal loanee forced to quickly make amends with a crucial block from Salifou Soumah’s subsequent effort.
After surviving that scare, the Portuguese hosts went straight back on the front foot to trouble Olsen in the Malmo goal, with the shot-stopper required to gather Victor Froholdt, before thwarting Borja Sainz and Samu in the space of two minutes.
Given Porto’s dominance, it was only a matter of time until Samu broke Malmo’s dogged resistance. Rodrigo Mora, who was at the heart of Porto’s attacking efforts in the first period, worked the angle to lift it towards the far post for Samu to head home.
The Spanish striker soon added a second, controlling and finishing with clinical effect after Sainz headed a driven delivery back across goal, taking his tally to 13 goals from 20 competitive matches this season.
Francesco Farioli’s confident charges continued to control possession after the restart, although they lacked the intensity of their dominant first-half display. As a result, supporters had to wait until the 78th minute for William Gomes to register the half’s first shot on target.
Gomes’ driven effort was comfortable for Olsen, but the former Aston Villa goalkeeper was made to keep out Froholdt and Deniz Gul’s headers in the latter stages.
Porto would have been frustrated to miss out on a third and concede late on, as Francisco Moura inadvertently knocked the ball into his own net after it bounced off the post.
The Portuguese giants will still be pleased with the win that moves them into the top eight and leaves Malmo in 34th spot with only one point to their name, six points off the qualification places with only two matches to play.