Samu's first-half header proved enough as Malaga claimed a 1-0 victory over Celta Vigo at La Rosaleda on Saturday night.
Javi Gracia's men made it two wins from two as they built on last weekend's 1-0 triumph at Deportivo La Coruna to condemn their opponents to their fourth-straight Primera Division defeat.
The three points moved Malaga up into sixth, while Celta remain two spots further back in a close mid-table position.
After a pretty uneventful opening 15 minutes, it was the visitors who had the first chance to take the lead through Fabian Orellana.
The Chile winger sent a drilled effort in from the right of the penalty box, but home goalkeeper Carlos Kameni was on hand to keep the ball out with a comfortable catch.
Five minutes later the hosts opened the scoring from their first real effort of note.
Roque Santa Cruz sent the ball in from the left wing and picked out Samu 12 yards out, and he made no mistake as he sent his close-range header into the bottom-left corner to hand Malaga the lead.
The away side almost levelled immediately through Andreu Fontas, but he sent his header over the crossbar.
Just before the half-hour mark, Nacho Camacho could have doubled the score for the hosts had Sergio not been well placed to hold his header out, while the Celta stopper was called upon again minutes later, this time tipping Santa Cruz's powerful shot around the post.
Eduardo Berizzo's visitors had the final say of the first half but Santi Mina's effort from the edge of the 18-yard box was soon in Kameni's safe hands.
Malaga defender Weligton left the field injured and was replaced by Miguel Torres as the second half got under way.
The away side came close to scoring an equaliser seven minutes in but Kameni thwarted them again, this time making it look easy as he collected Charles' close-range header, while Santa Cruz sent an effort wide minutes later at the other end of the pitch.
Denmark midfielder Michael Krohn-Delhi fired a long-range chance over the bar as the half wore on and the away side pressed for an equaliser.
Down in the Celta goalmouth, Recio was unfortunate to send his six-yard effort just over the bar moments later, while Augusto Fernandez, Mina and Sergi Gomez failed with their efforts to get on the scoresheet for the visitors as Malaga held on for all three points.