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.

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.