The 2013–14 season was Associazione Sportiva Roma's 86th in existence and 85th season in the top flight of Italian football. The pre-season started with the June hiring of Lille OSC manager Rudi Garcia. Garcia replaced caretaker manager Aurelio Andreazzoli who took charge after the sacking of Zdeněk Zeman in February 2013. Andreazzoli's reign had seen the continuation of a disappointing season, with the team ending up in 6th place in Serie A, whilst also losing 1–0 to regional rivals Lazio in the Coppa Italia final. As a result, Roma missed out on European competition for the second season in a row. The 2013–14 season, in contrast, saw one of Roma's best ever in Serie A, the club tallying an impressive 85 points and finishing second to Juventus, who won the league with a record-breaking 102 points. Roma's defense was significantly better than in previous seasons, with only 25 goals conceded and a total of 21 clean sheets, including nine in their first ten matches.
Source: Serie A, Soccerway Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd head-to-head points; 3rd head-to-head goal difference; 4th goal difference; 5th number of goals scored; 6th public draw. (Head-to-head record is applied for clubs with the same number of points only once all matches between said clubs have been played)[2] (C) Champions Notes:
^ abSince the 2013–14 Coppa Italia champions Napoli and runners–up Fiorentina qualified for the 2014–15 European football season thus 4th, 5th and 6th in Serie A (barring any failure to receive a "UEFA licence" from the FIGC or a ban from European competition) would qualify for group stage, play-off round and third qualifying round respectively.