You should not echo your comments_link.

  <a href="<?php comments_link(); ?>"><?php comments_number('Be the first to comment!', '1 comment.', '% comments already!'); ?></a>

You should not echo your comments_link.

  <a href="<?php comments_link(); ?>"><?php comments_number('Be the first to comment!', '1 comment.', '% comments already!'); ?></a>

or use something like this

<?php echo sprintf(__('<a href="%s">%s comment(s)</a>', 'textdomain'), get_comments_link(),get_comments_number()); ?>